Unused doses of smallpox vaccine will go to waste

> Unused doses of smallpox vaccine will go to waste

       

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Unused doses of smallpox vaccine will go to waste
 

Unused bottles of the vaccine will be destroyed
Unused bottles of the vaccine will be destroyed

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Posted: 07/22/2003 10:25 am
Last Updated: 07/22/2003 10:36 am

State officials are discarding hundreds of doses of smallpox vaccine that went unused after Indiana's vaccination program was abruptly halted last spring. The 419 doses that are being destroyed represent about 14% of the state's total. 

Demand for the vaccinations among health care workers never matched expectations. 
   
Public health officials were barely one quarter of the way to their goal of inoculating 2900 health care workers when Indiana's vaccination program was halted March 31st because of the risk of side effects, including serious heart problems.    

The doses of smallpox vaccine expire after 90 days. The Indiana Department of Health will destroy the unused doses in a heat-generating autoclave like other medical waste. 

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