Parents worry about side effects of polio vaccine :: Kenya



[ad_1]

Child receiving oral polio vaccine

In summary

  • On social media, many parents reported concerns and badociated effects to the vaccine
  • Some children developed seizures, diarrhea, fever, and Vomiting

They expressed concern about the serious side effects that they report that their children demonstrate after receiving the new series of polio vaccines recently concluded.

The process was led by the Ministry of Health in Nairobi, Kajiado, Machakos, Kiambu, Meru, Isiolo, Tana River, Lamu Garissa Counties, Mandera Wajir and Kitui.

ALSO READ:

21,000 targeted for polio immunization

It now appears that some children have developed undesirable side effects, including seizures, diarrhea, fever and vomiting.
Marion Katabi, an accountant in Nairobi, said Wednesday that her two-year-old son had fallen ill. The boy started vomiting, shivering and sweating. At the hospital, a series of tests were performed, but was inconclusive. He was given antibiotics and told to monitor the baby while other tests are done. Marion suspects that her son's health has been affected by vaccination against polio.

"As of Tuesday night when he received this drop, he became irritable.I badumed that it was a slight side effect, but things got more serious," she says. .

On social media, many parents expressed concern and badociated effects to the vaccine, saying that they began to notice a change in their children immediately after their vaccination.

Avoid false news! Subscribe to the standard SMS service and receive factual news and verified in real time. Text the word & # 39; NEWS & # 39; to 22840

The Ministry of Health, however, denied any link between the symptoms and the vaccine. The director of medical services, Dr. Jackson Kioko, said the symptoms are probably a sign of flu in children and have nothing to do with polio.

"Kenya is usually experiencing an increase in influenza cases twice a year, with the first upsurge of influenza cases occurring from March to May while the second increase occurs from July to October each year. So we are currently experiencing the second season of influenza in the country, which explains the increase in the number of patients with high fever in health centers, "reads part of their statement to the newsroom.

Dr. Peter Cherutich, Deputy Director of Medical Services at the Ministry of Health explained that even though there is a new combination of oral polio vaccination, this is not the case. not the first time that they use it in Kenya. He said that they had used it during their vaccination in May, and they did not have any complaints of resistance.

However, the ministry's statement came one week after the World Health Organization (WHO) said OPV used for disease prevention was linked to recent outbreaks of viruses that recur in some countries, including Kenya. 19659006] ALSO READ:

Oral polio vaccine is now linked to the outbreak

It is emerging that the use of this oral vaccine, which contains some mild strains of the virus, endangers a healthy person when it comes into contact with the mutated vaccine. to be immunized.

The WHO has said that once the vaccine has boosted the immune system to defend the body against polio, it is excreted, but it is already released mutated.

It is this mutated version of the vaccine that eventually causes polio infections. The director of the WHO polio eradication program, Michel Zaffran, however, told the media that although the oral vaccine has been badociated with outbreaks, it is not yet time to remove it from the market.

Chicken and egg

"With respect to these outbreaks caused by vaccine-derived viruses, this can only be stopped when we stop using the vaccine completely, and we will not stop using the vaccine. until we have eradicated the wild virus, so it's a chicken and egg situation, "Zaffran said.

It is only after the complete eradication of the virus that oral poliovirus vaccines will be withdrawn globally.

Another type of polio vaccine is the injectable, known as inactivated polio vaccine (IPV). It comes directly from the wild polio virus, but is not as effective as OPV since it is not "alive" and offers only protection to the victim, but does not prevent him from being infected.

ALSO READ:

Promoting Immunization of Children Under Five

Even with IPV, there may be no signs of poliomyelitis, but that they can still infect other people like any other patient with poliomyelitis. "IPV induces very low levels of immunity in the intestine, so when a person vaccinated with IPV is infected with wild poliovirus, the virus can still multiply at the same time. Inside the intestines and being excreted in the feces, thus risking a continuous circulation, "says the body of the Global Initiative for the Eradication of Poliomyelitis.

This is not the first time that the Ministry of Health faces charges on the possible side effects of their vaccines.

In 2016, Agriq Quest Limited, a Nairobi-based company, accused the government of giving contaminated polio and tetanus vaccines to children and women. This was after testing 56 vaccine samples.

The charges led to the formation of a panel of experts to determine the content of the drugs, but the details of the results were never made public.

[email protected]

 Would you like to be published on Standard Media websites? You can now send us news, article ideas, articles of interest or interesting videos on:

[ad_2]
Source link