Children hospitalized in expired vaccine precaution

The medical station of Thang Binh Commune, Nong Cong District on Tuesday vaccinated 15 children in the area.

Among the shots were six 6-in-1 vaccine shots from France; nine pneumococcal vaccine shots from Belgium; and one rotavirus vaccine shot from Vietnam.

Following the injections, personnel at the station gave the covering of the vaccine doses to parents so they could monitor the situation. By 10 a.m. the same day, some families reported that certain 6-in-1 vaccine shots had their expiration dates listed as March 2023.

A further check revealed that among the 6-in-1 vaccine doses given, four expired in March, while the other two would expire in May 2024.

The children who received the expired shots were taken to the Thanh Hoa pediatric hospital to be monitored.

One family has twins who received the 6-in-1 shots. While only one of them had the expired shot, the family was not sure which received which shot, so both were taken to the hospital.

Nguyen Van Son, head of the medical station, said it was human error that resulted in the expiration dates going unchecked. The vaccine doses were taken from the Nong Cong District Center for Preventive Medicine.

Tran Anh Nam, director of the Nong Cong center, said the expired vaccine doses were among the 165 doses purchased from the Hanoi Pharmaceutical and Medical Equipment company on May 23, 2022.

The expired doses were produced in April 2020.

The Center for Preventive Medicine said the four expired doses were the last of the batch.

"We will recheck the vaccination procedures at the Thang Binh medical station and hold relevant people responsible," Nam said.

Le Dang Khoa, director of the Thanh Hoa pediatric hospital, said the health of the hospitalized children showed no abnormal signs.

"They have slight fever, and two of the kids have elevated levels of liver enzymes, but their condition is not dangerous," he added.