A 9-month old child has died and 4 others are in critical condition after receiving a jab during a measles vaccination exercise which turned tragic in Bomet County.
The 5 children, who are aged between 12 months and 9 years, started developing body swellings after they were vaccinated at Mogokosiek Health Centre.
According to doctors at Tenwek Hospital where the children are now receiving treatment, a postmortem is to be conducted on the dead child in order to establish whether the measles vaccine had expired.
Mr Simon Kirui, the father of the deceased, wants the government to do a thorough investigation to establish whether the vaccines administered were safe and whether the health workers who vaccinated the children were qualified.
[caption caption="A nurse administering vaccine"]
[/caption]
"It is sad that I have lost my child when I was in an attempt to have him vaccinated," Mr Kirui expressed.
The children were admitted to Tenwek Hospital on Tuesday evening.
The medics further noted that the children were responding well to treatment at the health facility.
Bomet County Deputy Governor Dr Hillary Barchok highlighted that during the immunization exercise, 19 children aged below two years were immunized.
Reports by Citizen indicate that medical practitioners were on Thursday dispatched to the affected villages to assess the condition of the other children.
Dr Sowek, the Director of Medical Services in the county, explained that the county government had stopped administering the vaccines in all hospitals across the county pending an investigation.
[caption caption="Deputy Governor Dr. Hillary K. Barchok"]
[/caption]
He however, dismissed allegations of negligence by health workers at the center stating that the immunization was administered by experienced staff.
"We have checked all the vaccines and they had not expired together with the needles that were used and all we need to do was to send the vaccines for further testing on why the children reacted to them by swelling," noted Dr Sowek.
