Concerns over Dodges Ferry Medical’s vaccine storage prompts health advice

The health department is contacting the patients of a Tasmanian medical clinic amid concerns it may have been giving ineffective vaccinations for 20 years. LATEST >

Tasmanian Director of Public Health Mark Veitch provides a Covid update in Hobart on Thursday November 3, 2022

The Health Department is contacting hundreds of patients of a Hobart GP clinic to warn them vaccinations they received over the last two decades may not have been effective.

A routine call from Dodges Ferry Medical alerted the Department of Public Health to deficiencies in record keeping around vaccines at the practice between July 2003 and March 22 this year — the clinic had not kept records of the temperature of vaccines on the premises.

An investigation found that there was “no documented evidence of vaccines being stored per National Guidelines during this time”.

Letters have been sent to 1948 people identified as having been potentially affected.

Director of Public Health Mark Veitch said vaccines may have been exposed to temperatures that were too hot or too cold during storage.

“Vaccines need to be stored at a particular temperature temperatures to make sure they remain potent and effective when they’re administered,” he said.

“For almost all vaccines, that means that vaccines need to be restored within the range of two degrees to eight degrees.

“To know that the vaccines are in that range, there needs to be a process for taking the temperature either continuously or at regular times each day and documenting the temperatures of the maintained within the appropriate range.”

Commonwealth Vaccine Storage Guidelines use the slogan ‘Strive for 5’ — five degrees, the point midway between two degrees and eight celcius.

“We haven’t found any cases of notified serious childhood vaccine preventable diseases among the patients of the clinic and more generally, formerly common childhood vaccine preventable diseases like measles, mumps, rubella, and hib disease are very rare throughout Tasmania, which I think reflects the good performance of our state’s excellent vaccination program.”

The incident has been reported to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.

The vaccines that may be affected are those on the National Immunisation Program, including routine government-funded childhood vaccines and some government-funded vaccines routinely given to teenagers, adults and pregnant women, but not to coronavirus vaccines, flu vaccines or travel vaccines bought elsewhere and administered at the clinic.

The Department of Health has written to all of those affected that it can identify, either through the clinic records or through the National Immunisation Register.

Those affected have been urged to contact their GP, an authorised nurse imminuser, or seek assistance through the Department of Health website.

The Department of Health will run clinics over the coming weeks to help patients catch up on any vaccines.