Measles vaccines triggering severe reactions?

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — The Department of Health (DOH) has warned government health workers on "possible severe reactions" from measles vaccines that it had imported and distributed to government hospitals and health centers nationwide, an official said.

Dr. Jovencio Ordona, DOH-Central Luzon director, said the DOH central office, in a memorandum he saw two months ago, "warned of possible severe reactions that could arise from the measles vaccines."

Ordona said representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO) arrived in the country recently to look into a report that a child in Pangasinan died apparently due to the measles vaccine.  

DOH sources who asked not to be named said cases of "severe reactions" to the measles vaccines were also reported in some Visayan provinces, but that this information was allegedly kept.

But Dr. Joyce Ducusin, head of the DOH’s expanded program on immunization, said in a phone interview that her office never issued such a memorandum warning of severe reactions from the measles vaccines.

She, however, would not say if other DOH offices had issued such a memorandum.

She admitted though that she was aware of the Pangasinan case which she said is being investigated by the DOH’s epidemiology department headed by Dr. Eric Tayag.

"The batch of vaccines in Pangasinan was also used in various parts of Luzon, but we have heard of no similar cases elsewhere," she said.

Ducusin said the DOH bought the measles vaccines from foreign suppliers whom the WHO had reportedly "pre-qualified."

Ordona said officials apparently did not want the Pangasinan incident publicized, but he came to know about it from other sources.

Ordona said the patient, a child from Mangaldon, Pangasinan, was given the measles vaccine sometime last February and died soon after.

Four other patients reportedly exhibited symptoms but were pronounced out of danger after they were treated in a government hospital in Pangasinan

"I countered the initial claim of WHO representatives who said the death could have been triggered by the mishandling of the vaccine. Our midwives, nurses and other health personnel have been dealing with the same vaccines for years," Ordona said.

"The syringes that we use for vaccination are never used again," he said.

"Although I have no idea of what caused the death of the child, I am taking the cudgels for the midwives and nurses in the Pangasinan case. Let us first look into the possibility that the vaccine itself could have been the culprit," he said.  

He said news about the Pangasinan case has spread to nearby provinces, including Tarlac where mothers now hesitate to have their babies vaccinated against measles.