Contaminated vaccines kill 15 children in S.Sudan – minister

Fifteen children died in a South Sudanese village last month after being administered with contaminated measles vaccines, the country’s health minister said Friday.

During the vaccination of 300 people in the southeastern state of Kapoeta, local officials failed to follow guidelines, storing the vaccine unrefrigerated for four days and using a single syringe for the entire campaign, a probe into the deaths showed.

“An investigation into the cause of the death of 15 children in the rural and remote Nachodopele village … has concluded that the severe sepsis/toxicity resulting from the administration of a contaminated vaccine caused the event,” Health Minister Riek Gai Kok told reporters.