The Cook Islands has lifted the temporary suspension of its measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination programme after the deaths of two babies in Samoa.
The one-year-olds were both given the vaccine on July 6 at Safotu Hospital on the island of Savai'i, and died within minutes. All vials of the vaccine were seized and the Samoan government suspended its nationwide vaccine programme while an investigation was carried out.
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As a precautionary move, the Cook Islands suspended its own MMR programme because the country gets its vaccine from the same supplier as Samoa.
That suspension has now been lifted, Cook Islands Health Secretary Josephine Aumea Herman says, as the government has been told the vaccine they use is not the same product that was used on the children in Samoa.
The nurses who vaccinated the two Samoan children have been stood down, but told officials they followed proper procedure.
Prime Minister Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Dr Sailele Malielegaoi says an inquiry "will determine if negligence was a factor". A specialist forensic expert will undertake an autopsy on the bodies of both babies to help understand what happened.
The Cook Islands has a 100 percent MMR infant vaccination rate.
Newshub.
