JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — Fifteen young children have died in a botched measles vaccination campaign that saw people as young as 12 years old administering the vaccines, South Sudan’s government announced Friday. has concluded that the severe sepsis/toxicity resulting from the administration of a contaminated vaccine caused the event”, Health Minister Riek Gai Kok told reporters. "A single reconstitution syringe was used for multiple vaccine vials for the entire four days of the campaign instead of being discarded after single use," Kok said, referring to the device used to mix vaccines before injecting them with a separate syringe. The campaign came amid a measles outbreak that has killed 70 children this year, the latest tragedy to strike the world's youngest nation, which has been gripped by civil war for over three years -- affecting its ability to deliver decent healthcare. “In refugee settings, the death rate from measles may be as high as 30%.”

Worldwide, more than 2 billion children have been protected against measles by the vaccine. The National Adverse Events Following Immunization Committee, supported by the World Health Organization, and UNICEF vaccine safety experts examined the cases and those of 32 other children who suffered fever, vomiting and diarrhea. Abdulmumini Usman, the South Sudan country director for the World Health Organization, told The Associated Press earlier this week that even after the organization became aware of the deaths, the measles campaign continued across the country except in Kapoeta. The World Health Organisation provides some training to South Sudan's health officials and the UN children's agency provides the vaccines to the government. South Sudan has been embroiled in a bloody civil war for three years now, which has led to the deaths of tens of thousand of people and created the fastest-growing refugee crisis in the world, where almost two million South Sudanese have fled the country.
Fifteen young children die of "severe sepsis/toxicity" from contaminated vaccine during South Sudan's measles vaccination campaign. In one instance, a syringe containing vaccine stored without refrigeration was used for all the children over four days.