Employees of a hospital administered doses of vaccine against hepatitis B expired in 44 babies, in Sorocaba, in the interior of São Paulo. The failure was reported to the Municipal Health Surveillance by the institution itself, Hospital Santa Lucinda, linked to the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP).
According to the hospital, the families were sought and 40 of them had already been located. The children are being monitored. Until the afternoon of this Wednesday (6), there were no reports of health problems resulting from the failure.
According to Santa Lucinda, the batch of vaccines was blocked and the municipal Health Surveillance was notified as soon as it was identified that the batch was out of date.
“Our medical and assistance teams have contacted those responsible for these babies and follow up on any intercurrences. Despite our efforts, four families have yet to be located,” she said in a statement. According to the hospital, the 40 newborns being monitored are doing well and no problems have been reported so far. The failure to control the validity of vaccines is being investigated internally.
The Health Department of the State of São Paulo reported that routine vaccines are sent by the Ministry of Health within the validity period and that city halls are responsible for the distribution and application of doses in the municipality, as well as for monitoring in case of adverse events. .
In a note, the city of Sorocaba reported that, as soon as the epidemiological and health surveillance of the municipality were informed, measures were taken and the case is being monitored.
The Ministry of Health’s 2022 vaccination schedule provides for a dose of hepatitis B vaccine for children at birth and then, at two, four and six months, immunization is completed with the pentavalent vaccine. Vaccination is the main preventive measure against this disease. Hepatitis B virus infection causes inflammation of the liver and newborns may develop symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, tiredness, jaundice and fever.
Source: CNN Brasil