Four 10-month-old babies died within minutes of being administered an antimeasles vaccine at two medical camps in Tamil Nadu's Thiruvallur district on Wednesday. Three girls died at a centre in Pennalurpettai village, about 75km from Chennai. The fourth, a baby boy, died after getting the shot in Venkatapuram village near Tiruttani, 35km from Thiruvallur. In a knee-jerk reaction, the state administration suspended two public health nurses as well as the measles immunization programme across the state. Unsure about what might have caused the deaths, the Union health ministry rushed a two-member team of experts headed by Pawan Murti of India's National Polio Surveillance programme (NPSP) to the spot. Samples from various batches of the vaccine allocated to Tamil Nadu have been sent to the Central Research Institute, Kasauli, for testing. Eyewitnesses told TOI that the babies