Hundreds of young girls have been hospitalized after receiving the diphtheria-tetanus vaccine in schools in Bata, the economic capital of Equatorial Guinea, without any deaths or serious cases reported at this stage, the Ministry of Health said Thursday, May 19. Health.
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On Wednesday,
“102 girls from eleven schools in Bata were received at the Damian Roku Epitie Monanga Regional Hospital in Bata with the following symptoms: dizziness, restlessness, weakness, headache and pain in the left arm.
Among the patients, 99 had been vaccinated between May 16 and May 18 with the diphtheria/tetanus vaccine”
, explained Deputy Minister of Health Mitoha Ondo'o Ayekaba, in a press release read on national television.
The next day,
"a total of 223 cases were registered at the hospital, of which 190 were vaccinated and 33 non-vaccinated and presented the same symptoms"
as the day before, he continued, specifying that no serious cases or no deaths were recorded.
Of the 7,000 young women vaccinated as part of African Vaccination Week in Equatorial Guinea with the same batch of vaccine (D2511), which arrived in this small Central African country in March 2020, only 1.4% perceived effects. undesirable, according to health authorities.
The Equatoguinean Ministry of Health retains the hypothesis of a
"collective hysterical reaction"
as the main explanation for the phenomenon.
A group of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) is nevertheless expected in the coming days to analyze the batch of vaccines used and to make a possible link with hospitalizations.
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The diphtheria/tetanus vaccine is given to young women of childbearing age to prevent neonatal tetanus.
It allows them to be protected as well as their newborn who does not yet have the immune capacity to defend themselves.
Like any vaccine, it can cause generally mild side effects such as headaches or arm pain.
It can also cause in less frequent cases dizziness, nausea or weakness, which disappear between 24 and 48 hours after its administration.