Measles jab leaves trail of pain

Caroline Kirui speaks about the death of one of her daughters after a measles jab, at her Siriat home in Bomet County on May 3, 2018. PHOTO | ANITA CHEPKOECH | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The parents have called for thorough investigations to establish whether the vaccines administered were safe.
  • Director of Medical Services Bernard Sowek suspended the administration of the vaccines countywide, pending investigations.

As responsible parents who wanted their children to enjoy good health, Mr Simon Kirui and his wife, Caroline, had their twin daughters vaccinated against measles at Mogogosiek Heath Centre on January 15.

But it turned out to be a tragic decision and the couple from Siriat village in Konoin Sub-County, Bomet, were left mourning one of their girls.

Baby Joy Chepchumba developed complications and died after the jab while her sister, Dorcas Cherop, and three other children from the same area survived.

The number of children harmed by the jab is still not clear, but the Kiruis’ pain is palpable.

When the Nation visited them, Mrs Kirui was dressing baby Cherop after a midday bath.

“She is crying because she needs to sleep,” Mrs Kirui explained.

“She has been through a lot, including three surgeries on her affected hand. But thank God she is better and can run up and down,” she added with a welcoming smile.

CRYING
The events of the last three months turned her life upside down.

Mrs Kirui said the twins were born on April 20 last year through caesarean section.

On the fateful day, the twins got their jabs at about 11am. Moments later, they started crying uncontrollably, leaving their mother uneasy and confused.

They would sleep in snatches and cry whenever they were awake.

“That night their right hands, which had been injected with the drug, got swollen.

"We rushed them to Tenwek Hospital where they gave them painkillers and asked us to bring them back home. They thought it was the usual reaction to the drug, and that the pain would go away after two days,” she recalls.

VICTIMS
But by morning, the pain had become even worse.

“Baby Chepchumba began gasping for air and rolled her eyes. I screamed for help and we rushed them back to Tenwek, where she was pronounced dead on arrival,” she says, quietly adding that had they taken a keen interest in their children’s condition that night, both would still be alive.

In the queue at Tenwek, she had recognised three other women whose children had been vaccinated with hers at Mogogosiek.

Their children were battling the same problem.

The affected children were between the ages of nine and 12 months.

INVESTIGATION
The parents have called for thorough investigations to establish whether the vaccines administered were safe, and whether the health workers who vaccinated the children are qualified.  

They argue that since the drugs administered by the county health workers were from Kenya Medical Supplies Authority, the government should be held liable. 

Nineteen other parents whose children were immunised on the same day went to various health centres, including Kapkatet Hospital, to have them examined after they developed minor swellings.

The Director of Medical Services, Dr Bernard Sowek, suspended the administration of the vaccines countywide, pending investigations.

Samples of the drugs were sent to the Government Chemist for testing.

SURGERY
However, when she visited the children admitted to Tenwek Hospital, Governor Joyce Laboso announced that the immunisation had resumed. That was on January 23.

“We must continue to immunise our children as this regrettable incident is being investigated.

"Nobody is trying to hide anything. The pathologists have also done their work, so we’re going to give the public the right information,” she said.

“Baby Cherop was operated on the right hand and was admitted for two weeks. But after returning home, the spot that was injected started producing pus, causing her more pain,” she recalls.

She was re-admitted after an ultrasound was done. That night, she was taken back to theatre and the pus was removed.

“We stayed in hospital for another week. The wound was left open so that more pus could be expressed using cotton wool and flashing with water. We continued with the procedure for week after being discharged until her hand started healing,” she said.