09 May 2013 (13:14 UTC-07 Tango)/28 Jumada t-Tania 1434/19 Ordibehest 1391/30 Ding-Si (3rd month) 4711

The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has temporarily banned the vaccine Quinvaxem.   Since Novmeber 2012 nine infants have died from the vaccine.

The vaccine is made by a capitalist South Korean company, and is marketed as a preventative for diphtheria (D), tetanus (T), pertussis (P, whooping cough), hepatitis B (HepB) and Type B flu (Hib).

The UN World Health Organization is investigating.  According to Vietnamese news media, all the babies that died were healthy before getting the vaccine. They died violently less than 24 hours after getting the shot: “…they began wailing loudly, convulsed, and had serious trouble breathing, before passing away…”-Tuoitrenews

Of interest, the Hanoi Preventive Health Center stopped using Quinvaxem early in 2012, because they were concerned about the high death rate of children getting the shot.  The only investigation done, back then, was to make sure the vaccine ingredients were not compromised and that it was being stored properly, not if the vaccine itself was the cause of death.  So far, there has not been evidence established of allergic reaction to the vaccine.

In March 2013 health officials in Lam Dong Province stopped the use of Quinvaxem, after a four months old boy died.  He developed fever, then was found dead the next morning.

While Quinvaxem is made in South Korea, it was pushed into use by the Netherlands based pharmaceutical company Crucell, in 2006.

Since 2010, Quinvaxem has been distributed in Vietnam for free by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, through UNICEF.  It’s starting to look like the people of Vietnam are being used as guinea pigs for new vaccines.