23,000 Californians Given ‘Ineffective Vaccines:’ Officials Are Trying To Track Them Down

Ventura County California health officials are furiously attempting to contact the parents of children who received “ineffective vaccines.”

Health officials claim the vaccines are now deemed ineffective because the county workers responsible for them stored them at the wrong temperature.

Between October 2017 and November 2018, medical professionals administered the ineffective flu and HPV vaccines to 23,000 patients. County officials are pleading with those fitting the timeline to return for new vaccines, but according to the LATime, only 5% have done so.

Back in October of 2017, Ventura County health officials made changes to the vaccine transport process. They did so with the ambition of improving the ability to keep vaccines stored at appropriate temperatures.

“Exposure to temperatures outside these ranges may result in reduced vaccine potency and increased risk of vaccine-preventable diseases,” according to the CDC.

In this new case, county workers used ice to store the vaccines. This resulted in “possibly compromising the effectiveness of most of these vaccines and medications.”

Twenty-five types of vaccines may have been affected, including the flu shot and the HPV vaccine, officials say.

The county began attempting to contact affected persons last month. But the outreach has been mostly futile as hardly anyone has come back in for a new vaccine.