Children told to be tested for HIV after flu vaccines reused

10:06 PM, Apr 12, 2011
Written by Christina Dickinson
As Seen on 9NEWS

FORT COLLINS - A clinic in Northern Colorado is advising parents of children who received a pediatric flu shot from their offices to get tested for some blood-borne diseases including HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C after their vaccine syringes were shared between patients.

Med Peds Clinic of Fort Collins sent out a letter on April 6 stating a medical assistant at the office took the pre-measured children's influenza vaccine and only gave half to each child, assuming it was the adult dosage. Children between 6 months and 35 months are only supposed to receive half of the recommended dosage for adults.

Since children are supposed to receive two doses of the pediatric influenza vaccine within a month of each other, the assistant removed the needle from each half-full syringe, assuming it was an adult dose, and replaced it with a sterile needle, but not a new syringe.

Med Peds says she then placed the used syringes in a box marked "second doses," which also contained unused, fully-filled pediatric vaccines.

The clinic says some of the half-used vaccines were then used inadvertently on children returning for their second shot.

The medical assistant has been fired, Med Peds says.

"Apparently, somebody wasn't following policy and procedure and it puts infants in danger, so [I'm] not a big fan of them right now," father Cary Bergeron, whose infant was vaccinated at Med Peds, said. "She [my daughter] was born flawless, and now, by someone else's mistake, something bad could happen." FULL STORY

Note to Cary Bergeron- Keep complaining and CPS will come kidnap your kids and charge you with Medical Neglect.