Japan suspends baby vaccines in inquiry after deaths

Japan’s health ministry has suspended two vaccines made by drugs giants Pfizer and Sanofi-Aventis as it investigates whether the recent deaths of four infants are linked to them.

The infants, aged from around six months to under two years old, all died over a three-day period after receiving the vaccinations or combinations with other drugs, the health ministry said.

The two drugs – used to prevent forms of pneumonia and meningitis – are Pfizer’s Prevenar and ActHIB, a drug made by Sanofi-Aventis’ Sanofi Pasteur wing.

The health ministry reported that the infants died within three days of receiving the two vaccine shots, with two of the children also receiving DPT shots for diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus.

Some of the infants had underlying illnesses and others did not, the ministry said.

Prevenar and ActHIB became available in Japan around two years ago. The two vaccines have been administered to some 1.5 million children in Japan.