Local News
Recalled shots shipped locally
Health officials: Vaccines are safe, effective
ASHLAND — Shipments of H1N1 vaccine being recalled from two local health providers are safe and effective, but may have lost some potency, health officials said Tuesday.
Shipments of vaccine for children are being recalled voluntarily by the manufacturer from two local agencies after tests indicated the doses may have lost some of their strength, the officials said.
The 800,000 pre-filled syringes being recalled were manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur and were distributed across the county last month. The shots are for children 6 months to nearly 3 years old.
Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital and the Little Sandy Health District, which serves Carter and Lewis counties, each confirmed Tuesday they had received some of the recalled shots.
OLBH said some of their doses have already been distributed and they were working to notify practitioners. Other unused doses will be sent back, said spokesman Kevin Compton.
Little Sandy had not distributed any of the recalled shots. They will be sent back and replaced, said public health administrator Lloyd Miller.
Health officials on the federal, state and local level stressed Tuesday that parents do not need to worry if their child received one of the recalled doses and that the shots are safe and effective.
The vaccines are being voluntarily recalled because tests on potency levels taken by the manufacturer showed one lot of vaccines had fallen about 12 percent below government standards, the Associated Press reported. The company tested additional shots and found three other lots with diminished strength. It notified government health officials and did a voluntary recall, asking doctors to return any unused doses.
Centers for Disease Control officials said they believe the strength of the recalled doses is still high enough to protect children against the virus.
In a written statement released by the Kentucky Department for Health and Family Services, officials took the same position.
“The vaccine lots passed potency tests when they were first shipped, but tests indicate that potency levels were not up to exact specifications. No child will have to have new immunization nor is there any safety issue,” the statement read.
“State health officials have provided the lot numbers to local health departments so they can track down the implicated lots themselves. The State Department for Public Health will also notify all providers directly to make sure the lots are recovered.”
Kentucky Department for Public Health officials say that approximately 21,800 doses of the affected lots were received in Kentucky.
FIVCO Regional epidemiologist Kristy Bolen said no recalled doses had been shipped to Boyd County. Bolen said she was at vaccine clinics held in Boyd County schools all day Monday and Tuesday talking about the vaccine to parents who were with their children.
Many, she said, had only heard a portion of news reports of the recall on Tuesday and were looking for additional information before vaccinating their child. Bolen has stressed in recent weeks that the vaccine is safe and effective and that her child has received it.
“I’ve been telling them, that this shows that if there was a safety issue how quickly we would find out about it,” she said.
Bolen estimated that health officials vaccinated approximately 25 percent of the student population at most schools in the Boyd County School District this week. “The good thing was a lot of the kids we were doing were getting second doses,” she said.
The CDC recommends children ages 6 months to 9 years receive two doses of the H1N1 vaccine a month apart to be fully protected against the virus.
CARRIE STAMBAUGH can be reached at cstambaugh@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2653.
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