Mother angered by son's vaccination without consent

29.08.2001

A Whakatane mother is considering legal action after her six-year-old son was vaccinated without her consent.

Toby Barkla was given the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccination at his school by public health nurses, even though his parents had filled in a form declining consent for their son to have the jab.

He had already had two doses of the vaccine while a preschooler and the vaccination he got at school meant he was given one dose too many.

In spite of at least two checks that were supposed to have been carried out, Toby was vaccinated by a public health nurse from Pacific Health.

Joanne Barkla said today she had been told by Pacific Health that her non-consent form had become mixed up with consent forms and the vaccinating nurse had not checked his name off against his form.

“It should never happen. If it's gone through that many checks ... they should have more checks in place. And you wonder how many other children has it happened to,” she told National Radio today.

Mrs Barkla is considering legal action and has written to Children's Commissioner Roger McClay.

Bay of Plenty medical officer of health Phil Shoemack said Pacific Health had written to the family apologising for the mistake.

He said there was no harm in the third dose, as the two previous doses meant Toby was 99 per cent likely to be already immune to the viruses and would not react to them.

Immunisation Awareness Society spokesman Jason Saunders said many parents would be horrified by the mix-up and advised parents to write “no jab” on their child's arm, as well as filling out a non-consent form.

The Ministry of Health is running a campaign to get more primary school children vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella.

- DAILY POST (ROTORUA)

ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE.  THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.