Mum's warning after reaction by child to flu spray

DAUGHTER REACTED BADLY TO NASAL FLU VACCINE

- CARL EVE

A PLYMOUTH schoolgirl was left hospitalised after suffering a ‘rare’ severe allergic skin reaction to a nasal flu vaccination. Kelly Harmer said her nine-year-old daughter Poppie developed a painful red, raw blister rash on her neck and shoulders, which also spread to her face.

Poppie also suffered shortness of breath and felt very lethargic. The reaction came after she received the vaccination at her school in the form of a nasal spray on Monday, October 14. Kelly said the only question they were asked was whether she was allergic to eggs.

However, Poppie felt too poorly to go to school the next day, and by the following Wednesday she woke up with raw skin. Kelly said she took her daughter to a doctor, who in turn advised her to attend the emergency department at Derriford Hospital.

The nine-year-old was sent home with a course of antibiotics but her father, who lives in Salisbury, said he would look after her for a few days to give her mum some respite. However, by the Friday her condition had worsened so her dad took her to the accident and emergency department of Salisbury Hospital, where she was kept in and put on antibiotics intravenously, along with fluids and the painkiller oramorph.