23,000 Ineffective Vaccines Administered in Southern Californa

Sheila Murphy, the Public Information Officer for Ventura County Health Care Agency (VCHCA) issued a press release on December 4, 2018, saying ‘they have discovered 23,000 vaccines and medications delivered to patients within our clinic system may be ineffective due to a change in the packaging process.' 

This defective process may have lowered the temperature during vaccine delivery between October 2017 and November 2018. 

VCHCA has resolved the root cause of this issue by making changes to the packaging process of vaccinations and medications going forward. 

'Due to the uncertainty of the effect of the temperature exposure to these vaccines and medications, and with an abundance of caution, we feel that the safest measure is to have all patients re-vaccinated and treated,' said this VCHCA notice. 

Patients who received these vaccines and medications will begin to receive letters in the mail in early December 2018. 

VCHCA is offering repeat vaccinations for free and has added expanded clinic hours and additional clinics specifically to serve these patients. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), repeat immunizations are recommended in situations when an immunization cannot be confirmed. 

The CDC updated its ‘Special Vaccination Situation’ document during February 2018. 

Patients with concerns can take the following actions:

• Call the VCHCA support line at (805) 652-7660, which is available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
• Read the FAQs.
• Read the revaccination letter from the VCHCA. 

Ventura County is located in the southern part of California, just north of Los Angeles. As of the 2010 census, Ventura County’s population was 823,318. 

Recently, on December 1st, two South Carolina pediatric practices announced they were in the process of re-immunizing 1,800 children.   

The cause was determined to be human error and was discovered through checks that are built into the children’s vaccination program.

Additional vaccination FAQs can be found at Immunize.org.