1500 NAMES IDENTIFIED
Process underway to determine protocol
for re-administering vaccinations
“Patients will have to be looked at individually and a determination will
be made by the physician.”
By Lezlee E. Whiting
Fifteen-hundred children have been identified as potential candidates for
re-vaccination due to the possibility that some vaccines they received as
long as four years ago, may have been ineffective.
Last week Uintah Basin Medical Center administrators announced that some
children who received their childhood immunization at pediatrician’s offices
in Roosevelt would need to be re-vaccinated, because some vaccines had been
stored below recommended temperatures.
The error was found during a routine inspection of refrigerators used to
store vaccines. The re-vaccination alert affects only pediatric patients who
were immunized in the offices of Dr. Amy McNelis, Dr. Teresa Stewart and
Drs. Greg and Shannon Staker. Hospital records showed some vaccines could
have been compromised since Jan. 1, 1998.
With the raw list of names compiled through hospital billing records,
Roosevelt pediatrician Dr. Greg Staker and Dr. George Develan with the State
Department of Health are comparing immunization records supplied by the
hospital, state and TriCounty Health Department to establish which vaccines
each individual child may need to receive again. The joint effort is
necessary because some children may not have obtained all their vaccinations
at the pediatrician’s offices.
Shots which may have to be re-administered include tetanus, pertussis,
diphtheria, polio, HIB, pneumococcal and hepatitis A and B.
Inoculations given at the TriCounty Health Department offices are not
impacted by the vaccine storage problem.
TriCounty Health officials are working with hospital officials in an
effort to correlate the names of children with the re-vaccinations they will
need, said Joseph Shaffer, director of the TriCounty Health Department.
“At age two a child should have received 20 shots. Some children may have
to take two years to go through that series again. Some children will only
need shots x, y and z to catch them up. Some children, as they progress to a
certain age won’t need some of these shots because it has become a mute
point,” Shaffer explained. “You will probably run the whole gamut. Patients
will have to be looked at individually and a determination will be made by
the physician.”
Shaffer said it is important to note that there have been no vaccine
preventable diseases reported.
When it is decided which child will need which vaccinations, parents will
be contacted by telephone. If attempts to call a family are unsuccessful a
registered letter will be sent, said Roger Marett, UBMC assistant
administrator of physician services.
Residents who have family or friends who have moved from the area and
have children who may need to be re-vaccinated are urged to contact them and
have them call the hospital with their phone numbers and addresses.
“I had a few phone calls as far away as Las Vegas, which is great,” said
Marett. “The public is getting involved, but we know as much due diligence
as we are going to give this, we are not going to get 100 percent.”
He said the hospital has fielded about 40 telephone inquiries so far.
“Callers haven’t expressed much frustration, although I’m sure there are
those who are,” said Marett. “This won’t be a small task, it will take some
time, especially for those who need the (inoculation) series.”
All re-vaccinations will be paid for by the hospital. Special clinics
will be set up to handle the influx of patients needing to be re-immunized.
No shots will be given (to children affected by the recall) at the
hospital or at the TriCounty Health Department without a pediatrician’s
order.
To avoid the vaccine shortage problem from reoccurring, Marett said the
hospital has replaced at least one refrigerator and will place all
refrigerators on alarms which are monitored 24 hours a day. An alarm would
sound if temperatures are not in acceptable ranges to store vaccinations.
Refrigerators used by TriCounty Health Department have been monitored by
computers for years, according to Shaffer.
While refrigeration storage mistakes are not common, they do happen, said
Linda Able, immunization program manager for the State Health Department.
The Health Department, through the federally funded Vaccine for Children
Program, conducts site visits to offices that supply vaccinations as an
educational campaign to make sure medical staff are abiding by the
manufacturers guidelines on immunization storage.
The public is encouraged to phone the UBMC at 722-6189, with any
questions or individual concerns.
© 2002 Uintah Basin Standard |
