A group of scientists at the Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen have discovered a genetic deficiency in Greenlandic children, according to Sermitsiaq. The deficiency makes the children highly vulnerable to virus and child vaccinations containing live virus.

Last year, a nearly two-year-old boy was flown from Greenland to Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen with suspicion of meningitis or tuberculosis. Both options were soon ruled out, and further investigations showed that the child suffered from a genetic deficiency making it vulnerable to virus and child vaccinations containing live virus.

The same genetic deficiency has been found in other indigenous people in the Arctic, however, it is non-existent in Denmark as well as other European countries.

The scientists have analyzed 4,600 blood samples from Greenlanders. They show that 1 in 1,500 Greenlanders have the same deficiency. It occurs frequently in Greenland.