A 3-year-old girl died April 27 of fulminant encephalitis and a 1-year-old boy is suffering slight paralysis in his right leg after both were vaccinated for polio at a Fukuoka Prefecture hospital, according to prefectural officials.
Prefectural authorities are investigating the possibility that the vaccine is to blame, and local governments have been ordered to stop using polio vaccines shipped since February until the Health and Welfare Ministry decides on a course of action.
According to the officials, the girl, who lived in Tagawa in the prefecture, was vaccinated for polio on April 4. She was hospitalized on April 18, suffering vomiting and convulsions.
Hospital officials, however, have said there is little likelihood that the death and the vaccination are related.