Expired vaccine incident: Due to old age... misread the instructions.
Mr. Doan Hung Anh explained: "Because the expiration date on the vaccine box was written in Roman numerals, and the person administering the injection, Ms. Khanh, was elderly, she… misread it (!)".
On the morning of May 20th, Mr. Phan Van Ngoc (residing in Ward 5, Tuy Hoa City, Phu Yen Province) brought his two sons to the Tuy Hoa City Preventive Health Center to receive mumps vaccinations. Mr. Ngoc was instructed by the center's staff to pay 228,000 VND for two doses.vaccineTrivivac (also known as the 3-in-1 vaccine against mumps, measles, and rubella).
Deliberately administering expired vaccines.
When Mr. Ngoc saw employee Pham Quoc Phap taking the vaccine to inject his child, he objected because the employee was too young and not wearing a name tag. Mr. Ngoc requested that Ms. Nguyen Thi Khanh, Deputy Head of the Disease Control Department, administer the vaccine to his child.
After vaccinating PTT (16 years old, Mr. Ngoc's son), Ms. Khanh threw the empty vaccine vial into the trash. Mr. Ngoc became suspicious, searched for the vial, and discovered that the vaccine had expired, so he did not vaccinate his other child.
"While I was both surprised and worried because my child had been given an expired vaccine, they didn't explain anything but quickly took the empty vial and hid it, then told my child and me to go home. A staff member at the center told a colleague, 'Give him the money back, tell him to bring his child back for the vaccination when the vaccine is available.' Only when I pressed them did they admit their mistake," Mr. Ngoc recounted.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Khanh, Deputy Head of the Disease Control Department at the Tuy Hoa City Preventive Medicine Center, used an expired vaccine box to vaccinate child PTT.
Many children have been given expired vaccines.
According to documents provided by the Tuy Hoa City Preventive Health Center, the expired vaccine dose was part of batch number QLVX 029809, which consisted of 10 boxes of Trivivac vaccine (each box containing five vials, or five doses) purchased by the center from Duc Minh Medical Joint Stock Company (Xuan Dinh commune, Tu Liem district, Hanoi) on April 22nd for vaccination services.
Mr. Doan Hung Anh, Deputy Director in charge of the Preventive Health Center of Tuy Hoa City, said that the center had used up nine boxes, and the expired dose for Mr. Ngoc's child was in the tenth box. The outside of this vaccine box indicated a production date of October 3, 2011, and an expiration date of April 2013.
Of the five doses from the tenth box, besides Mr. Ngoc's child, the Tuy Hoa City Preventive Health Center vaccinated two other people. However, Mr. Anh admitted that it is currently unclear who was vaccinated and on what date. Furthermore, it is currently unclear whether the nine boxes containing 45 doses of vaccine are expired, who was vaccinated, and when, because the center does not retain the boxes or vials. Meanwhile, according to regulations, medical facilities must retain the vials for 14 days after use.
Explaining the incident of administering expired vaccines, Mr. Phan Dinh, Deputy Director of the Preventive Medicine Center of Tuy Hoa City, said: "The person administering the vaccine made a mistake by not checking the expiration date, which is a mandatory procedure."
And what about Mr. Doan Hung Anh?Qingming Festival"Because the expiration date on the vaccine box was written in Roman numerals, and the person receiving the injection, Ms. Khanh, was elderly, she… misread it (!)."
According to the Law of Ho Chi Minh City
