Hospital Contacts Mothers Over Ineffective Hepatitis B Vaccines Given To Babies

A Sydney hospital has been recently contacting mothers who gave birth there regarding the administration of ineffective Hepatitis B vaccines to their newborns.

Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital admitted that babies born in the hospital and who received the critical vaccination between 29 November 2016 and 22 January 2017 may be affected.

In a statement issued yesterday, Dr Stephen Conaty from NSW Health said, “Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital is contacting mothers to advise them that their infant may have received an ineffective Hepatitis B vaccine at birth, after a fridge that stored routine vaccines was found to have low temperature readings. Vaccines are temperature sensitive biological substances that can become less effective if they get too warm or two cold.”

A total of 282 mothers are being contacted.

So far, six infants have been offered an additional vaccination while three mothers who received a vaccination for whooping cough after giving birth have also been administered an extra dose.

However, Dr Conaty said that affected parents need not do anything except to ensure their child received further vaccinations as per the immunisation schedule.

In the statement, he reassured the community that receiving a less effective vaccine is ‘not harmful.’ “However some babies may not have received important early protection against Hepatitis B,” he added.

The Better Health Channel defined Hepatitis B as a serious viral infection that may cause critical illness or death, and is spread by contact with the blood of an infected person. This can be transferred from a pregnant mother to her baby. However, in up to 40 per cent of cases the cause of the infection can not be identified.

Source: Kidspot.com.au