If you’ve tuned into the BBC World Service for news of Greece over the past two decades, you’ll be familiar with the work of Malcolm Brabant. A veteran foreign correspondent and long-term Greece stringer for the BBC, Brabant hasn’t filed many stories over past months. It’s a conspicuous absence, given his old-school dedication to the news and his in-depth understanding of the Greek political landscape.

So, where has he been? Turns out, he’s been fighting for his life. Brabant’s wife, author Trine Villemann, says Brabant suffered an acute adverse reaction to a routine travel vaccination received in April this year. As a prerequisite for an Ivory Coast assignment with UNICEF, Brabant attended the Vaccination Centre East Attica in Pallini, Athens for a yellow fever shot.

The Centre is a regional, administrative office, not a medical facility. He was injected with Stamaril, a yellow fever vaccine produced by Sanofi Pasteur, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. Within twenty-four hours, the Brabant family’s nightmare had begun. According to Villemann, Brabant became ill very rapidly, developing a high fever and violent shivering. He was admitted to the Igea Hospital in Athens, into the care of Professor Giamarellou (a prominent infectious diseases specialist) and her team. The high fever persisted and he became increasingly anxious and agitated, developing insomnia.

Eventually, Professor Giamarellou and her team were able to bring the fever under control, but Brabant’s mental health continued to deteriorate and he was transferred to a psychiatric clinic in Athens, suffering severe psychosis. Brabant recovered sufficiently from this episode to return home to his family, but he is currently hospitalised in Copenhagen, receiving further treatment, undergoing a battery of tests and suffering his third psychotic event since his Stamaril vaccination in April. Villemann says, ‘Before the Stamaril vaccination my husband was a happy, bouncy and healthy journalist and father of four.

Now he is severely depressed, has psychotic episodes and among other things has suffered several embolisms in his lungs. I have consulted two independent experts, who strongly believe that the subject Stamaril batch was contaminated. Villemann says Sanofi Pasteur repeatedly ignored her requests for information, until she began a public internet campaign to demand answers. Sanofi Pasteur was flooded with emails and demands to provide Villemann with information, and to address the safety of the batch of Stamaril administered to her husband in Greece.

‘First, Sanofi Pasteur claimed there were no other reports of adverse events stemming from the batch in question, but on Wednesday they admitted in an email to me that there are other reports of adverse events from the same batch of vaccine. ‘According to Sanofi Pasteur’s own information supplied to me, 120 000 doses of vaccine from this batch have been distributed to countries like Denmark, Finland, Holland and the U.K – plus Greece, where my husband had his jab. ‘Sanofi Pasteur claims no safety issues came to light during the quality control of this batch of vaccine, but they have not answered my repeated question as to whether they’ve taken a physical sample of the batch in Greece and tested it – or if they have checked that the vaccine was transported and stored correctly.

‘Sanofi Pasteur says it has investigated my husband’s extremely severe adverse event, but where is the proof of that investigation? And why are they not sharing their findings with us, his family? ‘With the batch of vaccine having been distributed to so many countries, there is in my view a serious public safety issue here. Nobody else should have to endure the suffering my husband is going through if it can be prevented. I will not rest until we find out why Stamaril turned my once so healthy and happy husband into a very sick man.’

Malcolm Brabant continues to battle for his health. Though he’s not filing reports at the present time, he is, unfortunately, still making the news.