Ballou - wrong shot/dosage given to 7 mos. old and 3 year old?

[Anonymous]

I am freaking out because we took our two children to Ballou this morning for flu shots, and although there was no wait, it appears that they were given the wrong shot - both given something called "Novartis 1/10," according to haphazard paperwork - which I'm assuming is the vaccine for those over 4 WITH mercury in it. Also not sure of dosage, they didn't note. Does anyone have any more info about proper dosages???

[Anonymous]

Please let us know what you find out on this. Here is a link to all the package inserts.
http://www.immunize.org/packageinserts/pi_h1n1.asp
They are on other places on the web too (less anti-vaccine) but I found this link fist. I think the inserts are correct.

I was at Ballou this morning too. I hope you find out it is all OK.

[Anonymous]

Another idea -- you can call the flu hotline for Maryland they are closed until tomorrow morning, but open on Sunday at least, I know its hard to get info over the weekend.

from the press release ...The number is 1-877-MDFLU4U (633-5848) and will operate from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The state will also field flu questions by email at [e-mail].

[Anonymous]

From the Dr. Sears site:

Novartis’s injected vaccine: Approved for anyone 4 years and older. It comes in two forms:

Prefilled single-dose syringes with a trace amount of mercury (less than 1 mcg because 99% of it is filtered out).
Multidose bottle with ten doses WITH 25 mcg of mercury per dose.
Other ingredients include: the viral proteins, sodium chloride, phosphate, egg proteins, two antibiotics, betapropiolactone, nonylphenol ethoxylate.

http://www.askdrsears.com/thevaccinebook/labels/Vaccine%20News.asp

[Anonymous]

Please call your pediatrician immediately! Or an ER to find out how serious this is. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the replies. We did speak to our ped. and she said that even in the worst case scenario, we should be fine - that there are unlikely to be major complications, though we should be watchful of fever, behavior over next couple of days.

After reviewing every last minute detail of the clinic with my husband, who was also there, seems like it may be just a paperwork mixup -my husband and I also got shots and on our cards it says we got the sanofi, so HOPING the woman just wrote the wrong shots on the kids cards - in other words, that we got the novartis and they got sanofil. seems incredible that they would have reversed it, but to be honest, in retrospect, the woman administering the shot just didn't seem that informed. i am kicking myself now that i was not more forceful/observant/proactive but i was dealing with a screaming baby and toddler after the shots and just didn't look at the paperwork. just assumed that they would be given the proper shots at the proper dosage. last time i make that mistake, esp, when dealing with dc gov. will also be following up with health dept. on monday am, first thing, tpo see if there is any way to verify what shots they received at what dose.

[Anonymous]

OP, so sorry. Please don't be too hard on yourself - I was so stressed out by the time DC got her shots, I realized later that I didn't pay ANY attention to what they gave her, how much, etc. Which is VERY unlike me. I even had to ask DH later if they had used a new needle, because I just wasn't paying any attention. You did the best you could, and you can't beat yourself up over this.

[Anonymous]

If you were watching, were they all drawn out of multidose vials?

[Anonymous]

This is my biggest fear - quality control. If they rev up production and farm it out, how do they guarantee that the vaccine production process is held up to rigid standards?

Furthermore, with the fear factor causing people to line up for days, we've created an assembly line at these clinics. How can any nurse or medical practitioner keep up at this rate?

So it wouldn't surprise me if they were indeed vaccinating people with incorrect doses.

In your case, OP, I'm glad your ped. gave your good news. But what happens to certain children with systems that can't handle an extra dose? Who's liable?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is my biggest fear - quality control. If they rev up production and farm it out, how do they guarantee that the vaccine production process is held up to rigid standards?

Who said anything about farming out production?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is my biggest fear - quality control. If they rev up production and farm it out, how do they guarantee that the vaccine production process is held up to rigid standards?

Furthermore, with the fear factor causing people to line up for days, we've created an assembly line at these clinics. How can any nurse or medical practitioner keep up at this rate?

So it wouldn't surprise me if they were indeed vaccinating people with incorrect doses.

In your case, OP, I'm glad your ped. gave your good news. But what happens to certain children with systems that can't handle an extra dose? Who's liable?

This has been my fear, too. Not so much in production and distribution, though I can see that as a concern, but in once the vaccine arrives at its destination. Is the vaccine being handled and stored in a proper and sanitary way, following the same protocol's that my dr office would? I just have a hard time believing that, with all the swarming and volume, that the necessary high standards are able to be met. This is just my hang up and it's entirely possible I am wrong, but it's my concern. God bless the people running these clinics; they must have a tough job.

[Anonymous]

I was a poster who started a thread called "I forgot to ask what shot they gave her" and I called the dc flu hotline (on the card that was given to me, which had no info on it). I got the site manager for Wilson (Mr philpot?) aND
he helped me out. I suggest that you call the flu line on monday and ask for the site manager of Ballou and see if they can give you the actual facts of what your dc got.
Good luck.