15 YOUNG CHILDREN DIE DUE TO BOTCHED MEASLES VACCINATIONS IN SOUTH SUDAN

The South Sudanese government says 15 young children have died as a result of a botched measles vaccination campaign.

All of the children who died were under the age of five, said the health ministry, which blamed the deaths on human error.

One syringe was used for all the children over four days, it said, and the vaccine was not stored properly – with children as young as 12 years old administering injections.

The United Nations said the children died of "severe sepsis" and "toxicity" from the contaminated vaccine.


A measles vaccination campaign is targeting more than two million children across South Sudan, the world's youngest country and one of the poorest.

The highly contagious disease is yet another challenge facing the East African nation that already has been devastated by more than three years of civil war and a recently declared famine, as well as a cholera outbreak.

The deaths occurred in the town of Kapoeta in south east South Sudan.