THE NORTH’S Attorney General John Larkin has ordered a second inquest into the death of a 15-year-old schoolboy who died 10 days after having the measles and rubella (MR) vaccine.
The original inquest into the death of Christopher Coulter from Hillsborough, Co Down, found that he died from asphyxiation due to a severe epileptic fit. There was no history of epilepsy in his family.
Mr Larkin, in ordering the inquest, said the case was of “enormous public importance”.
The boy, a student at Wallace High School in Lisburn, Co Antrim, was found dead in his bed shortly before Christmas 1994, 10 days after receiving the vaccine.
His parents, Anne and Harry, have long suspected that the vaccine was a significant factor in his death, a view reinforced by the fact that another pupil from the school, who survived, also suffered a serious seizure after receiving a vaccine from the same batch.
The Coulter family has campaigned for a second inquest for years. Anne Coulter told the Belfast-based Detail investigative website that she hoped the new inquest would provide answers and help bring some closure for her and her family.
“Christopher was a healthy and happy schoolboy with no health problems whatsoever before the vaccination,” she said.
As part of the family’s campaign for a new inquest, Christopher’s medical records were reviewed by Dr Marcel Kinsbourne, a consultant paediatric neurologist from Massachusetts. He concluded that, “On the balance of probabilities Christopher’s seizure and death were caused by the MR vaccination. Furthermore, there is no medically reasonable evidence of an alternative causation.
“I consider it to be of enormous public importance that the possible role of the MR vaccine in the death of an apparently healthy boy be fully explored,” he said.
