A poor couple in Bac Lieu Province received VND40 million (USD1,894) in support and chose not to press charges for their six-month old girl having died after vaccination.

Poor couple deals with shock after their baby’s death

On November 26 the Southern Expanded Programme on Immunisation, in coordination with Bac Lieu provincial Department of Health conducted an investigation on the case in which a five-month-old baby died after being administered the Quinvaxem five-in-one vaccine.

According to the preliminary report released by the provincial Department of Health, Tran My Ngoc, the five-month old from Vinh Tuong Hamlet, in Hung Phu Commune was vaccinated with an injection of Quanvaxem 1 at 7:30am on November 24 at the communal clinic.

The baby turned purple four hours later and was taken to Phuoc Long General Hospital. Despite the best efforts by doctors there, the baby died at 3:30pm.

After being informed of the incident, Bui Quoc Nam, Director of the provincial Department of Health, in coordination with local police and local authorities came to the hospital to find out more about the case.

A report was made at 3:35pm on the same day saying that the child died due to an allergic reaction to the vaccine. Authorities suggested that the family could either take financial compensation or take the case to court.

The family decided to accept the VND40 million on a condition that they would not bring the case to the court and no autopsy would be conducted.

Tran Dan Day, 43, the baby’s father said, “Our baby has already died and conducting an autopsy would only cause more pain. We don’t have any money to organise a funeral, so we decided to take the money.”

Day’s family is the poorest in the commune. Seven years ago he had an accident while working as a hired hand in Dong Nai Province and the family had to return their hometown of Hung Phu Commune. Now they are living in a 20-square metre makeshift house, still struggling to earn a living.

Their makeshift house

He stated that in reality his baby died around 2pm but was not reported until 3:30pm.

“Our baby received a vaccination after 7am on November 24. I saw my baby develop contusions on her arm just after the vaccination,” the father said.

He added that the baby was in good health at birth and did not have any diseases.

From November 20-25, thousands of children aged under one year old in Bac Lieu Province were vaccinated with the same vaccine upon the guidance of the Ministry of Health.

Hung Phu communal clinic provided vaccinations to 78 other children during the period, including 18 on November 24. Apart from Ngoc’s incident, all other children were healthy after vaccination.

One reporter tried to contact with Bui Quoc Nam to get further information about the incident, but he refused to give comment.