“It’s a terrible tragedy, an absolute tragedy. » Philippe Delorme, general secretary of Catholic education, says he ” shocked “, “like the entire educational community” from the private sector, after the announcement of the death of a teenager who was in class 5e at the Saint-Dominique Institute, in Saint-Herblain (Loire-Atlantique), near Nantes, victim of a fall due to post-vaccination discomfort.
The tragedy occurred on October 19, just before the school holidays. That day, the regional health agency (ARS) of Pays de la Loire mandated a team from the Nantes University Hospital to carry out a vaccination session against human papillomavirus infections – as part of the national campaign targeting students from 11 to 14 years old, as announced by the President of the Republic at the beginning of 2023 – sexually transmitted infections which are the cause of certain cancers, in both women and men.
“Within fifteen minutes” the injection, a student of 5e has been “stricken with vagal discomfort”, reports the ARS. The teenager, seated on a chair, “heavily fell to the ground”. The back of his head hit “the hard surface” of the room made available by the school.
The team of four CHU agents came to the victim’s aid, calling the emergency medical and resuscitation service (SMUR) for help, the ARS further specifies. The teenager was admitted to the hospital emergency room, but “his state of health deteriorated in the following days” : he succumbed to his injuries on Friday October 27.
“One of the safest vaccines in the world”
The Nantes public prosecutor, Renaud Gaudeul, opened an investigation into involuntary manslaughter in order to “determine whether the medical care of this minor – before, during and after the injection – was carried out according to the rules of the art”.
The type of discomfort suffered by the schoolboy “may occur due to stress caused by vaccination but is unrelated to the vaccine product”immediately defended the ARS. Asked on RTL Tuesdaythe Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau, insisted that the vaccine against human papillomavirus infections was “one of the safest vaccines in the world”. “Vagal discomfort is the first risk in any vaccination. It’s the fear of the needle… There is no link with the injected product”he assured.
According to the minister, nearly 20,000 vaccines have been administered since the start of this campaign, which is subject to parental authorization: “This is the only serious, tragic adverse event that we have had to experience”he argued.
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