Several children were taken ill after being allegedly administered out-of-date anti-Japanese encephalitis injections at a medical camp at Khanakul in Hooghly on Tuesday by a medical team of the district health department. A probe has been ordered.

District health authorities have rushed a medical team to Khanakul Block Primary Health Centre for treating the children for the “toxic effect” that could bring about serious health hazards.

According to officials, a team of health workers, including an employee of the state health department, had come to Vudeb Primary School, where a medical camp was set up to administer the injections to children of the locality, around 40 in number.

While the injections were being administered to children, a local resident, Nazrul Islam, who had come to the camp for his son’s vaccination, noticed that the injections were out-of-date and immediately brought the matter to the notice of a teacher of a local school, Swapan Das.

Das soon came to the camp and demanded to see the samples. Senior health officials had to suspend the vaccination programme after locals started demonstrating.

The incident triggered anger among the locals, mostly supporters of the Trinamool Congress, who confined three health workers in the school for several hours. A huge contingent of police was deployed in the area after locals refused to free the health workers.

Senior health officials, including deputy chief medical officer of health (III) and Block Medical Officer of Health, Khanakul, were sent to the spot.

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