Infant Boy in India Dies Within Hours of Receiving Pentavalent Vaccine

by TVR Staff

Published April 11, 2020 | Vaccination, Risk & Failure Reports

A five-month-old infant boy died on Feb. 12-13, 2020 within hours of receiving the “5-in-1” pentavalent (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type B) vaccine at a vaccination clinic in Arani, India.^{1 2}
After he was vaccinated by the health nurse at the clinic, the boy was sent home with his parents. According to the child’s uncle, “An otherwise healthy baby, Litish became restless after the vaccination and also developed fever. At night, after feeding him, Tamil (the mother) left him in the
cloth cradle. When she saw him the next day, he was lying motionless.”^{1 2}
The infant was rushed to the nearby Nesal Primary Health Center (PHC) but he was pronounced dead on arrival by the center’s medical officer. The branch medical officer who read a copy of the post-mortem attributed the death to respiratory distress. “The same batch of vaccines were given to several hundred children,” the medical officer said. “In the same PHC, the nurse has given the vaccine to eight other infants. There were no adverse reports.”^{1 2}
Public health officials registered the child’s death as an adverse event following immunization (AEFI) and referred the case to a committee for investigation.^{1 2}
The pentavalent vaccine was introduced into India’s routine vaccination schedule for children during 2014-2015. The vaccine, which comes in vials of 10 doses each, is scheduled to be given to children three separate times—at six weeks, 10 weeks and 14 weeks of age.^{3 4}
Pentavalent vaccines in India are manufactured by four pharmaceutical companies, including Serum Institute (Pentavac PFS), Panacea Biotecs (Easyfive TT), Biological E (ComBE Five) and Shantha Biotechnics (Shan5).⁵
Over the past two years, there have been numerous reports of babies dying or becoming seriously ill in India soon after receiving the pentavalent vaccine. Another recent case involved a three-month-old infant boy who died on Feb. 6, 2020 after receiving the pentavalent vaccine at a government health center in Ramgarh.^{5 6 7 8 9}

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