Nothing wrong in Rubella vaccine - WHO team

Nadira Gunatilleke

There was nothing wrong in the Rubella vaccination administered to Peshala Hansani of Matara. The same vaccination from the same batch had been used in six countries including Morocco, Israel and Kazakhstan but not even a single complication had been reported from those countries, the special WHO team which conducted the special investigation had stated in their report a Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry spokesman said.

Peshala Hansani and 17 students from Matara were hospitalised after allegedly being vaccinated for Rubella Peshala later died at the Hospital. The spokesman said the two specialists, Dr. Stephan Guichard and Dr. Ram Madhav had stated in their report that there was nothing wrong in the vaccine.

The expiry date of the vaccine is not even closer to the date the administration took place. The total number of school students vaccinated in the Matara district on the same day was around 4,000. The vaccine was not contaminated.

The two doctors had also stated that there was a possibility that something went wrong due to a failure in following relevant guidelines when administering the Rubella vaccine to the girl, the spokesman said.

Accordingly, Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva has decided to recommence the Rubella vaccine within another two months after providing a two month special training to health professionals through the Ministry's Epidemiology Unit.

Minister de Silva also stated that the Ministry was conducting another special investigation to find out if there is a person/a group of persons who ignored the relevant guidelines when administering the Rubella vaccine and disciplinary action will be taken against such person or persons and they will be punished through the Public Service Commission. The details of the investigation would be forwarded to the Attorney General to find out the possibility of punishing them under the Penal Code.

According to Minister de Silva, certain persons and groups tried their best to weaken the National Immunization Program using the `Rubella incident' and as a result of this, the program experienced certain setbacks. They did not know that there were over 30,000 abortions reported from Sri Lanka annually prior to the introduction of Rubella vaccine to the National Immunization Program and this number dropped to zero after the introduction of Rubella vaccine.

Discontinuation of Rubella vaccine can lead to the birth of more blind children, hole in the heart and mentally retarded children.