Ventura Officials Scramble To Contact Thousands Of Patients Over Possibly Ineffective Vaccines
Vaccines need to be kept within a certain temperature range to remain effective. Ventura officials are urging anyone who may have been effected to get new shots.
Ventura County Star:
Why Vaccines And Medicines For 23,000 People May Not Have Worked
The odyssey that led to the Ventura County Health Care Agency’s jarring December announcement that as many as 23,000 flu shots, vaccinations and treatments may have been neutralized because drugs were too cold started with the discovery that many of the medicines were warm to the touch. In October 2017, county pharmacy leaders worried that many vaccines and other medicines were being disposed of because they were warming to room temperatures during their delivery from Ventura County Medical Center to a network of agency-affiliated clinics sprawled across the county. (Kisken, 1/11)
Los Angeles Times:
Ventura County Administered Thousands Of Vaccines That May Not Have Worked
Ventura County officials are scrambling to contact thousands of patients who received vaccines that may have been ineffective because county workers stored them at the wrong temperature. Approximately 23,000 patients who got shots at county clinics between October 2017 and November 2018 need to be revaccinated, county officials said. But so far, fewer than 5% of those affected have returned to get their shots, raising questions about how protected residents will be from this year’s flu season as well as other disease outbreaks. (Karlamangla, 1/11)
In other public health news —
Ventura County Star:
Ventura County Flu Season: Three Deaths Reported So Far
Three people have died in flu-linked deaths in Ventura County so far this flu season, but the surge of illness appears far less deadly than last year’s record onslaught. Ventura County Public Health Officer Dr. Robert Levin said two of the deaths involved people under the age of 65 but declined to offer other details. He cited the privacy of the people involved. The first fatality was in October and the other two were in December. (Kisken, 1/11)
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Measles Case In L.A. County Is Confirmed And Others May Have Been Exposed, Health Officials Say
Health officials are warning that shoppers and diners in Los Angeles County may have been exposed to measles in late December. Officials confirmed one case of measles in a person who visited several locations in Malibu, Pasadena and Santa Monica while infectious. There is no longer any risk of infection at those establishments, because measles spreads when the sick person coughs or sneezes around others, officials say. (Karlamangla, 1/13)