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August 23, 2002

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Clinic's Vaccine Might Not Work"

Minneapolis Star Tribune (www.startribune.com) (08/21/02) P. 1B; Lerner, Maura

The second patient recall this summer for the Twin Cities medical group because of cold storage problems has resulted in the notification of about 2,000 patients of the HealthPartners clinic in Brooklyn Center who may have inadvertently been injected with an ineffective chickenpox vaccine between 1995 and mid June of this year.  In July, the Park Nicollet Clinic notified about 3,400 patients for the same reason, and state health officials say the problem may be even more widespread, as they have identified similar problems at as many as 20 percent of the clinics they have inspected this year.  Epidemiologist Kristen Ehresmann, in charge of Minnesota Health Department's immunization program, says most of the troubled clinics quietly went about notifying their patients without publicizing it, but she added that health  inspectors have turned up similar problems during routine spot checks of clinics nationwide.  In June, at the Brooklyn Center,  the inspector noted that the freezer containing chickenpox vaccine measured at 11 degrees Fahrenheit, which is six degrees warmer than recommended by the manufacturer. As a result of these storage problems, HealthPartners plans to install freezer alarms at all their clinics to ensure that the vaccines are kept at appropriate temperatures and has, in the meantime, issued a recommendation that all children between the ages of one year and five years old be revaccinated.  For children aged six and older and adults, the medical clinic group is recommending that patients have a blood test first to determine their immunity to the chickenpox virus, which will determine whether a second injection is necessary.

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