As if things in Syria weren’t terrifying enough for families, the UN’s vaccination campaign has been suspended after as many as 50 young children died from contaminated vaccines.
The children, many of them infants under 12 months old, were being inoculated against measles, mumps and rubella, but within minutes of receiving the injections it became clear something was very wrong.
Residents described the horror of scene as parents watched their children die before their eyes, unable to help them.
Both the UN and the interim government in the region of Northern Syria where the incident took place have vowed to investigate the causes, and discover whether it was an accident or sabotage.
Dr Abdulla Ajaj, one of the physicians who administered the deathly vaccinations speculated that the drug might have been improperly stored and exposed to high temperatures.
Other doctors in the facility however state that other batches of the vaccine stored in the same place hadn’t caused any issues.
Another suggestion is that the vaccine, which comes in large batches and is then diluted down, was mixed with the wrong chemical.
Mohammad Hamadi, another doctor in the region, said that the vaccine might have been diluted with Atracurium, a muscle relaxant, which comes in a similar bottle to the vaccine diluent.
