Can vaccination cause cancer, asks HC

Directs authorities to consult experts, file report by April 5

Five days after the Madras High Court took suo motu cognisance of a news report published in a Tamil daily claiming that vaccination administered to a six-year-old boy resulted in a contusion, which turned out to be a cancerous growth, the authorities informed the court on Monday that the child has been admitted to the Adyar Cancer Institute.

Denying the claim that vaccination was the cause of cancer, Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine submitted that the occurrence of cancer following immunisation was not reported anywhere in the world.

“We cannot close the case simply accepting the statement of the authorities wherein it was stated that the occurrence of cancer following immunisation is not reported anywhere in the world,” a Division Bench of Justices S. Nagamuthu and Anita Sumanth said. The Bench directed the authorities to forward all the medical records of the child to the Head of Department of Oncology, AIIMS, Delhi, and to the Head of Department of Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai. The court has asked Principal Secretary of the Health and Family Welfare Department to file a report by April 5.