Radio Ozodlik has reported that seven children from 3 to 6 years old were incorrectly vaccinated while the nurse responsible for conducting preventive vaccinations was sent to pick cotton.

The parents of the seven children told Ozodlik that their children were mistakenly vaccinated against hepatitis “B”, instead of hepatitis “A.

According to the parents, the children were vaccinated on October 25-27 at the children’s clinic which belongs to the “Metallurg” hospital in Bekabad city. They said that after the vaccination, the children developed high fevers, began bleeding from the nose, and became weak and sick. The parents fear that the incorrect vaccine could cause long-term harm to the health of their children.

In an interview with Ozodlik, Saodat Kabulova, a nurse working in the vaccination ward, said that on October 25 she was sent to pick cotton for three days on the Mallava farm in the Bekabad district.

She said that she received an order to go to pick cotton on October 24 after 11 pm and was warned about the negative consequences of refusing to go.

On October 25, at 6.30 in the morning, she arrived at the place of departure to the fields and learned that two nurses working at the Metallurgical Plant had been temporarily assigned to perform her duties.

“Usually, after the 25th of every month, I submit a report on the number of vaccinations. When I returned after picking cotton on October 29, I saw that there were not enough hepatitis B vaccines in the fridge. I found out that the nurses who had replaced me had given the children the hepatitis B vaccination instead of A. I immediately informed them of the error and asked them to write an explanatory note. Otherwise, I would have been responsible for the mistake”, said Saodat Kobulova in an interview with Ozodlik.

Abdusamatov Shohruh, a 6-year-old boy who received the wrong vaccine was among the victims of the Uzbek state’s policy of forced mobilization to pick cotton.

In an interview with Ozodlik, his grandmother spoke of how his health had been affected after the vaccination on October 25.

“On the same day, the child became ill. His temperature rose and he began to burp. My daughter said that it might be the effects of the vaccine. The child lay there and did not open his eyes for hours. He stopped eating and only asked for a drink. We took him to a pediatrician who said that he had a sore throat and prescribed analgin-diphenhydramine.  We could not imagine that it could be due to the wrong vaccine”, said the boy’s grandmother, Guloyim Rakhimova.

On November 7, seven parents lodged an appeal with the prosecutor’s office demanding an investigation into the incident.


Translated from Uzbek.

The original article was published on November 7 on the website of Radio Ozodlik.

https://www.ozodlik.org/a/29587880.html

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