Vaccine incident prompts notice

More than 3,400 adults and children may need to be revaccinated because the shots they received might have been rendered ineffective by freezing temperatures.

Park Nicollet Clinic says that no one is in any danger, but that the vaccines may have been ruined because they were mishandled. The clinic is notifying its patients, including about 1,700 children, of the problem.

This mishap affected polio booster shots, hepatitis A and B shots and Prevnar, a vaccine for infants and toddlers, given at nine Park Nicollet clinics in the metro area since December.

However, officials with the Minnesota Health Department have found the same cold-storage problems at five or six other unnamed clinics, said epidemiologist Kristen Ehresmann, who oversees the department's immunization program.

The same thing has been happening around the country, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "It's definitely an emerging issue that we're dealing with," Ehresmann said.

Traditionally, the big concern with vaccines has been keeping them from getting too warm and spoiling. Now, health officials are drawing attention to the opposite problem: cold damage.

Park Nicollet sent letters on Tuesday offering free shots and apologies to thousands of patients who received their vaccines on days when the storage rooms fell below freezing. The vaccines are supposed to be kept within a range of 35 to 46 degrees.

— Associated Press