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August 14, 2002
U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS
"Clinics' Vaccines Feared Useless"
Austin American-Statesman ( www.austin360.com/aas ) (08/13/02) P.
A1; Osborne, Jonathan
In Texas, a routine inspection of Travis County's health clinics
in February discovered that some refrigerators were too cold,
which could render the vaccines useless. A follow-up review of
the county's 29 health clinics by county and city health
officials discovered that as many as 1,500 children and adults in
the county received vaccinations for polio, hepatitis B, tetanus,
diphtheria, and whooping cough that were potentially ineffective
at the East Austin Women, Infants, and Children Clinic, the East
Austin Primary Care Clinic, and a Jonestown clinic due to
refrigeration problems; investigators believe the problem goes
back all the way to January 2001. Austin/Travis County Health
and Human Services Department director David Lurie says they will
go through records and contact people who potentially received an
ineffective vaccination to request they come in for a second
shot. The problem is blamed on faulty equipment and employees
who failed to track the refrigerators' temperatures, says Lurie,
who plans to retrain the staff about storage procedures to
prevent a similar situation in the future.
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