The 14-year-old was admitted to Kiruddu Referral Hospital with body swelling shortly after he was allegedly vaccinated at St Martin Secondary School, Mpigi, in the last week of February
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Ministry probes 14-year-old boy's ill health after Covid jab
What you need to know:
- The 14-year-old (name withheld) was admitted to Kiruddu Referral Hospital with body swelling shortly after he was allegedly vaccinated at St Martin Secondary School, Mpigi, in the last week of February.
The Health ministry is looking into an incident where a teenager experienced multiple organ failure after allegedly receiving a Covid-19 jab.
The 14-year-old (name withheld) was admitted to Kiruddu Referral Hospital with body swelling shortly after he was allegedly vaccinated at St Martin Secondary School, Mpigi, in the last week of February.
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The ministry spokesperson, Mr Emmanuel Ainebyoona, confirmed having knowledge of the case, but said he would ably comment when investigations are fully done.
“We have heard about that case but for now, we cannot tell whether it’s any other condition or the vaccine that caused it until it has been investigated,” Mr Ainebyoona, told Kfm, a sister radio station of this newspaper, yesterday.
This followed an earlier press conference in Kampala, in which Mr Jasper Nsubuga, a brother of the ill child, claimed that his sibling had no pre-existing conditions that could have triggered the current multiple organ failure.
“My brother has been healthy, the only problem he has is short sightedness. When we received him from school, his body was swollen, vomiting blood and he was breathing in an abnormal way, which prompted us to rush him to hospital,” Mr Nsubuga said yesterday.
Adding: “When we reached Rubaga hospital, we were told that they couldn’t handle his condition because of lack of certain machines and that’s when we went to Kiruddu where we told that he has issues with his heart, kidney and his lungs has holes.”
Mr Nsubuga denied any knowledge of the ongoing investigations by the Health ministry into the incident.
“No official from the Ministry of Health has seen or met by any of our family members, so what are they investigating when they haven’t even reached out to us to at least find out the condition of my brother?” he wondered.
Mr Nsubuga claims his teenage brother started experiencing complications in early March and that he was admitted to the intensive care unit on March 17 where he remains to date.
The press conference had been organized by the National Economic Empowerment Dialogue (NEED), headed by Mr Joseph Kabuleta, a former presidential candidate.
When Mr Nsubuga was asked on whether he is aware of the ongoing investigations by the health ministry into his brother’s incident, he denied any knowledge of the same.
“No official from the ministry of health has been seen or met by any of our family members, so what are they investigating when they haven’t even reached out to us to at least find out the condition of my brother?,” he asked.
According to Mr Nsubuga, he claims his teenage brother started experiencing complications in early March and that he was admitted to the intensive care unit on March 17 where he remains till date.
Mr Kabuleta re-echoed the need for parental consent before any school going child below 18 years can be vaccinated against Covid-19.
The head teacher of St Martin S.S Mpigi, Mr Raphael Mpagazi, last evening confirmed that indeed there was a district-wide vaccination exercise that took place in February at their school.
“There was a district vaccination programme and students of St Martins were vaccinated but the district health officers were in-charge,” Mr Mpagazi said by telephone.
There is a current stalemate regarding vaccination of children between ministries of Education and Health on whether there is need to first seek consent of the parents/ guardians.
