Mandya: Tension prevailed among the residents of Chinnagiri Doddi village in Mandya taluk after two infants from the village died and seven others took ill following the administration of Pentavalent vaccine under a mass immunisation drive on Friday.

The deceased infants have been identified as Preetham (2 months), son of Ravikumar and Priya and Bhuvan (2 months), son of Ravi and Hemavathi of the village.

On Friday, the vaccine was administered by the Heath Department staff to nine children at the Anganwadi in the village as a precautionary measure against five diseases — Diphtheria, pertussis  (whooping cough), tetanus, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib).

While one infant died on Friday night, another breathed his last yesterday morning. Seven more children aged between two months and two years, who were also vaccinated, have taken ill and have been admitted to Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences (MIMS) in Mandya where the condition of three children are said to be critical, according to sources.

Alleging medical negligence by the staff at the centres where the infants were vaccinated, the family members and relatives of the deceased infants rushed to MIMS and staged a protest, questioning the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.

Health Department Director Dr. Nataraj, who visited MIMS, collected information pertaining to the vaccine and the dosage given to the children besides forming a team to probe the incident and submit a report.

Meanwhile, MP C.S. Puttaraju, who too visited MIMS, held talks with the protesters and urged them to protest in a peaceful manner till compensation was announced. He later met MIMS Director Dr. G.M. Prakash, Medical Superintendent Dr. Hanumantha Prasad, DHO Dr. K. Mohan, Taluk Medical Officer Shashidar Basavaraj and others and gathered information from them.

“Pentavalent vaccine were administered to more than 2,000 children in the district but we have not received any complaints from anywhere. In Chinnagiri Doddi village, two infants have died, one of them was suffering from fever while the other had low blood count and respiratory problems. As soon as we received the information, we have summoned all the children of the village who were administered with the vaccine to the hospital.”  —Dr. K. Mohan, DHO