The province’s Thong Nhat General Hospital said the three-day-old infant died a few hours after being given a BCG shot made by the Ho Chi Minh City-based Pasteur Institute.

The management board of the southern Expanded Program on Immunization also instructed local health centers to report by July 6 the number of vaccines still in stock.

Health authorities are conducting tests on the vaccine.

Initial investigations reveal that the hospital stringently followed all the rules in place for preserving the vaccines and sterilizing needles.

It vaccinated 11 other babies from the same batch but they are fine.

Dr Nguyen Thi Thanh Ha of the Pasteur Institute said the BCG vaccine had caused no fatalities or serious complications in the last few decades.

This year, in Vietnam, six babies have died and six others developed serious complications after getting shots of vaccines against rabies, hepatitis B, and other diseases made both in Vietnam and abroad.

Source: Tuoi Tre, Nguoi Lao Dong – Compiled by Tuong Nhi