Fifteen young children have died in a botched measles vaccination campaign that saw people as young as 12 years old administering the vaccines, South Sudan’s government said Friday.
The health ministry blamed the deaths on human error. One syringe was used for all the children, and the vaccine was not stored properly.
The government said all of the children who died were younger than 5. It is setting up a commission to determine who is responsible and whether victims’ families will be compensated.
Vaccinations continue
Measles is yet another challenge facing the desperately poor country that has been devastated by more than three years of civil war and a recently declared famine, as well as a cholera outbreak.
The measles vaccination campaign is targeting more than 2 million children across the country. About 300 children were targeted in the area where the children’s deaths occurred.
The children died in the town of Kapoeta in early May, and other children have become gravely ill after vaccination campaign.
Abdulmumini Usman, the South Sudan country director for the World Health Organization, told The Associated Press earlier this week that even after the organization became aware of the deaths, the measles campaign continued across the country except in Kapoeta.
“This campaign is lifesaving,” Usman said.
WHO training, UN vaccines
WHO provides some training to South Sudan’s health officials and the U.N. children’s agency provides the vaccines to the government. It was not immediately clear whether any U.N. officials were present at the time of the botched vaccinations.
Dr. Samson Baba, an immunization official in the ministry of health, refused to comment on the deaths earlier this week, instead demanding the source of the information.
South Sudan’s government Friday said vaccinations are not being denied to any part of the country, including those held by opposition forces.
The civil war has killed tens of thousands and sent more than 1.8 million people fleeing the country, creating the world’s fastest-growing refugee crisis.
In 2016, South Sudan had at least 2,294 measles cases and 28 people died, according to U.N. data.
