Three new-born babies who died in central Quang Tri Province last Saturday after being vaccinated against hepatitis B were victims of anaphylactic shock, an inspection team under the Ministry of Health has said.

A young couple bringing their dead baby home. Photo by Dan Tri

The inspectorate has claimed that vaccine management at the General Hospital of Huong Hoa District in Quang Tri was sub-standard, with insufficient records being kept and no designated rooms for vaccinations.

The team has asked for samples of the vaccines to investigate their quality. It has also asked for blood and organ samples of the victims to seek further clues to find what went wrong.

According to inspectors, around 600,000 doses of this type of vaccine had been used previously without incident, and the vaccine had been examined and licensed for use by the National Institute for the Control of Vaccines and Biologicals.

The Ministry of Health's Drug Administration had requested the suspension of the two hepatitis B vaccine batches related to the incidents in Quang Tri, said Truong Quoc Cuong, the administration's head.

According to Nguoi lao dong (The Labourers) newspaper, another baby in the central province of Binh Thuan's Tuy Phong District also died after receiving a vaccination against hepatitis B on Sunday. The cause of the death is still unknown, but it was reported that the dose came from a different batch of vaccines to those used in Quang Tri.

In response to the news, the provincial People's Committee had instructed the provincial Department of Heath to conduct an urgent investigation into the cause of the death, said Nguyen Thanh Tam, the committee's deputy chairman.