Measles vaccine kills 9-month-old twin sisters in Ghaziabad

The infants, identified as Avika and Anika Sharma were administered the measles vaccines at Divya Nursing Home in Shastri Nagar on Wednesday evening.

The father of the twins, Sunil Sharma, a resident of Swarna Jayanti Puram, had taken the babies for the measles shot around 6.30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Severe reaction after vaccination
Immediately after vaccination at around 7.30 pm, one of the twins had a severe reaction and started breathing heavily and vomiting.

Seeing the condition of the child, Sharma tried to dissuade Dr Satvir from injecting the other child.

However, the doctor blatantly ignored Sharma’s pleas and went ahead with the procedure. The outcome was that the second child also fell unconscious immediately.

“Even as the condition of one of my daughters deteriorated, the doctor told us that we need not worry since it was a normal reaction to the vaccine. The deteriorating condition of the baby did not deter him from administering the vaccine to my other daughter,” said Sunil Sharma.

Twins taken to another hospital
Dr Satvir, then took the twins to another hospital after vaccinating them, and conveniently vanished from the scene taking the medical prescriptions and vaccination chart after the incident.

As the condition of the twins became critical, a completely shattered father rushed his daughters to a different medical facility.

Sharma disclosed, “We took the twins to Ganesh Hospital in Nehru Nagar where doctors again declared them dead. Then we informed the police, and handed over the bodies and lodged the complaint at Kavi Nagar police station.”

Investigation in progress
Meanwhile, Dr Satvir who is an Ayurvedic physician is absconding.

The police have registered a case of culpable homicide against him and are scrutinizing certain documents and his MBBS degree.

Singh’s wife Dr. Bimla Singh, director of Divya Nursing Home, has failed to give a satisfactory explanation for the medical lapse.

According to her, they had purchased the vaccines from a reputed wholesaler at the Medical Market near Nai Basti in Ghaziabad.

Dr Bimla stated, “We suspect that the vaccines were faulty. However, the wholesaler is now refusing to handover the sale bills.”

Ghaziabad Chief Medical Officer A.K. Dhawan, who is investigating the incident, has issued orders to seal the hospital and take samples of the vaccine.

Dr A K Dhawan said, "We have constituted a medical committee to examine the causes of the twins' death. We can not make any comments until the committee comes to a conclusion.

"We have sent the viscera of both the babies for forensic examination and a central government team is also examining the case."