No blanket ban on vaccinations: Gujarat govt

In an apparent change of stand, the government on Thursday said that the 'blanket ban' on all further vaccinations announced on Wednesday was meant only for the batch of measles vaccine supplied by the Hyderabad-based, Human Biological Institute. On Wednesday, the after had imposed a blanket ban after four infants died after vaccination against measles.

Meanwhile, the three infants who were vaccinated along with the four kids who died after vaccination in Gandhidham on Wednesday are yet to be traced. All the seven infants (including the four who died) were administered vaccine from the batch supplied by Human Biological Institute.

"We have the names of the three 9-month-old infants -Dakashaben Gangajibh, Jill Ramesh of Gandhidham and Shabari Thakore of Adipur - who were given the vaccine from the same two vials," said Dr SK Modh, chief district health officer told DNA on Thursday. "But we have not been able to trace them because their family members had not given their addresses. It is presumed that they are fine as otherwise the kids would have been brought to some hospital by now."

He further said that on Wednesday they had asked government as well as private hospitals not to use the vaccines from the suspect batch supplied by the Hyderabad-based institute.

The decision not to impose a 'blanket ban' on further vaccinations seems to have come taken because of the firm stand taken on the issue by the paediatric association.

"I talked to the current president of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP), TU Sukumaram, and chairman of the Child Health Foundation Dr Jackob John," said Dr Navin Thacker, former president of IAP. "Both were of the opinion that the ongoing immunisation programmes should continue as vaccines never cause deaths."

Thackar also gave the information that Dr Jackob John, who lives in Chennai, had also volunteered to help investigate the four deaths that had occurred on Wednesday. One such incident had occurred in Tamil Nadu a few years back but, on investigation, it was found that the vaccine was not to blame. "Incidentally, the Tamil Nadu government had not stopped its vaccination programme after the incident," Thacker added.