4,500 Minn. patients urged to get new shots
A chain of Minnesota clinics is notifying 4,500 patients that vaccines they received might be ineffective because the doses were stored under improper conditions.
The Columbia Park Medical Group sent letters Tuesday to affected patients, telling them that their vaccines were stored at too low a temperature. The variance of 2 degrees below recommended levels isn't considered dangerous.
The vaccines in the incident include those to protect against rotavirus, hepatitis A and B, pneumonia, tetanus, typhoid and rabies.
The error involving several clinics in northern Twin Cities suburbs was discovered during a routine audit by officials with Columbia Park and the Minnesota Department of Health.
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"We deeply regret that revaccination is necessary, but because we cannot be certain that the vaccines were effective, we are taking every precaution to provide optimal protection for our patients," said Dr. Tom Rolewicz, Columbia Park's chief medical officer.
Clinic officials said they had known of the error since late this summer, but they delayed notification to identify the correct patients needing revaccination and to prevent any drug reactions that could occur if patients got revaccinated too soon.
Clinic spokeswoman Amy Rotenberg said no patients have informed Columbia Park that they suffered viral illnesses as a result of the vaccines not being effective.
The revaccination effort does not involve seasonal influenza vaccines.
In response to the incident, Columbia Park put in new refrigerators that will sound alarms should the temperature go too high or low or if there is a power outage.
--- Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://www.twincities.com