NEW DELHI: Centre today termed as "sudden infant death syndrome" the death of an infant after being administered polio vaccine in Bihar's Vaishali district and sought a report from the state government over the incident.
A seven-month-old girl died last night at a government hospital after being administered polio vaccines at Shahpur village in Bihar's Vaishali district yesterday. "It seems to be a case of sudden infant death syndrome. Post mortem is being conducted," a senior Health Ministry official said here.
According to the investigation by the Ministry's team, the child was unwell before being given the vaccine. "All children were fine except for the one who was found dead in the morning. He already had mild fever and parents also do not know the reason," the official said. He said that the six other children who reportedly fell sick were brought to the hospital as a "panic reaction".
"As a panic reaction, all the children who were vaccinated in that locality were brought to the hospital and were finally discharged after 2 hours of observation," the official said. The incident occurred in Shahpur village near Hajipur, district headquarters of Vaishali, where children aged up to five were administered polio vaccines yesterday. The official said that it was part of routine vaccination.
India was declared polio-free by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2014 after no case was detected since 2011.