13 Sep 2018

Calls to restart vaccinations in Samoa

6:43 am on 13 September 2018

The Samoa Nurses Association has added its voice to calls to restart an immunisation programme after the deaths of two babies in July.

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Photo: 123RF

The programme was stopped after the one year olds died following injections for measles, mumps and rubella.

The nurses made their submission on Wednesday to a Commission of Inquiry into the deaths.

Commission members asked about a loss of trust in health professionals and the vaccines and the Ministry of Health told them safety measures are in place to resume the programme.

RNZ Pacific correspondent Autagavaia Tipi Autagavai said the commission was awaiting post mortem results before it resumed the programme.

"All the questions relating to the death of the babies have not been answered yet because the commission of enquiry will be sitting again based on when the final report on the analysis of the post mortem of the two babies will arrive."

The commission heard some children have developed whooping cough since the vaccination programme was put on hold two months ago.

The National Health Service had not resumed the programme despite the Ministry of Health giving it the green light.

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