At least 15 children have been reported dead in South Sudan after health workers vaccinating them against measles used the same syringe without sterilizing it, the country’s health minister said on Friday.
According to Reuters, about 300 children were vaccinated during the drive conducted between May 2 and May 5 in Nacholdokopele village in Eastern Equatoria state, another 32 of whom have recovered after falling ill with symptoms including fever, vomiting and diarrhea, Health Minister Riek Gai Kok said.
“The team that vaccinated the children in this tragic event were neither qualified nor trained for the immunization campaign,” Kok told a news conference.
A report prepared by a committee of specialists found the children had died from severe sepsis toxicity as a result of the vaccine’s contamination, caused by repeated use of an unsterilised syringe.
South Sudan is struggling to provide medical care for its citizens due to the civil war that has rocked the country since December 2013.
The war was ignited by accusations by President Salva Kiir that his then-deputy Riek Machar was plotting a coup against his government. Machar denied the accusations but then went on to mobilize a rebel foirce to fight the government.
The United Nations now ranks South Sudan as Africa’s biggest refugee crisis, and third in the world after Syria and Afganistan.
