Kids Receive Wrong H1N1 Vaccine Dose
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LIVONIA, Mich. -- Yanli Zhao is seven and a half months pregnant, so she said she wanted to make sure her two older children, ages 5 and 7, were vaccinated against the H1N1 virus."I feel like we definitely needed the protection," said Zhao.
Mother's Questions Prompts Wrong Dose Investigation Zhao's husband took their sons to Livonia Urgent Care to receive the nasal vaccine. Zhao said when they arrived home, her husband explained that the clinic had saved part of the doses their sons had received."He said make sure next time when they go in that they get their container that has their name.
So that kind of raised some suspicions in my mind," said Zhao.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children under age 10 need two full doses of the vaccine, four weeks apart, to be protected.Zhao couldn't understand why Livonia Urgent Care was saving half of her sons' doses for their next appointment."In the back of my mind, something doesn't match from what I read," said Zhao.Zhao said she did more research and called the clinic multiple times trying to find the answers to her questions.
She said the clinic insisted they were following the instructions for administering the vaccine."My co-worker suggested maybe you should contact the CDC to find out if what they were doing is right," said Zhao.Zhao said she called the CDC and her suspicions were confirmed. Her children had only received half the dose they were supposed to.
Zhao said she called Livonia Urgent Care again and asked the director to look into the directions for administering the vaccine."The director called and said 'well it looks like we did misread about it,'" said Zhao.Local 4 contacted Livonia Urgent Care. Director Dr. Mohammed Arsiwala released this statement:"We pride ourself on quality clinical care.
We have been practicing in the community for ten years. This is a new vaccine, and this is the first time we are administering it on behalf of the Michigan Department of Community Health. We entered all of the data into the MCIR database, the registry for immunization. This problem stemmed from having a misunderstanding of the amount of the nasal live vaccine to be administered.
Approximately 40 children will be contacted to be re-vaccinated as soon as the vaccine is available, at no charge."Local 4 also contacted the Michigan Department of Community Health to alert them to the situation. Spokesperson James McCurtis said their experts are recommending that the children who received the half dose of nasal vaccine be re-vaccinated with a full dose of injectable vaccine, followed by a second dose of injectable vaccine four weeks later.Arsiwala told Local 4 the families involved have not yet been contacted, but the clinic does plan to contact them once they have more information about when additional vaccine will be available.
Zhao said she isn't angry with Livonia Urgent Care, but she is frustrated."I'm just really frustrated because I had to go through all of this to find this out myself," said Zhao.Zhao wants Livonia Urgent Care to contact the families involved to alert them to the error. She said she hopes her family's experience will help other parents."Parents should be more on lookout for what their kids has been given. Usually we don't do that. We rely on medical experts," said Zhao.
So that kind of raised some suspicions in my mind," said Zhao.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children under age 10 need two full doses of the vaccine, four weeks apart, to be protected.Zhao couldn't understand why Livonia Urgent Care was saving half of her sons' doses for their next appointment."In the back of my mind, something doesn't match from what I read," said Zhao.Zhao said she did more research and called the clinic multiple times trying to find the answers to her questions.
She said the clinic insisted they were following the instructions for administering the vaccine."My co-worker suggested maybe you should contact the CDC to find out if what they were doing is right," said Zhao.Zhao said she called the CDC and her suspicions were confirmed. Her children had only received half the dose they were supposed to.
Zhao said she called Livonia Urgent Care again and asked the director to look into the directions for administering the vaccine."The director called and said 'well it looks like we did misread about it,'" said Zhao.Local 4 contacted Livonia Urgent Care. Director Dr. Mohammed Arsiwala released this statement:"We pride ourself on quality clinical care.
We have been practicing in the community for ten years. This is a new vaccine, and this is the first time we are administering it on behalf of the Michigan Department of Community Health. We entered all of the data into the MCIR database, the registry for immunization. This problem stemmed from having a misunderstanding of the amount of the nasal live vaccine to be administered.
Approximately 40 children will be contacted to be re-vaccinated as soon as the vaccine is available, at no charge."Local 4 also contacted the Michigan Department of Community Health to alert them to the situation. Spokesperson James McCurtis said their experts are recommending that the children who received the half dose of nasal vaccine be re-vaccinated with a full dose of injectable vaccine, followed by a second dose of injectable vaccine four weeks later.Arsiwala told Local 4 the families involved have not yet been contacted, but the clinic does plan to contact them once they have more information about when additional vaccine will be available.
Zhao said she isn't angry with Livonia Urgent Care, but she is frustrated."I'm just really frustrated because I had to go through all of this to find this out myself," said Zhao.Zhao wants Livonia Urgent Care to contact the families involved to alert them to the error. She said she hopes her family's experience will help other parents."Parents should be more on lookout for what their kids has been given. Usually we don't do that. We rely on medical experts," said Zhao.
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