As the state of Salzburg informed in a broadcast, instead of a quadruple booster vaccination to protect against polio, diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, an active ingredient against human papilloma viruses (HPV) was used. 33 children in a second grade are affected.
Info hotline set up
“The legal guardians were immediately informed in writing and by telephone, an information hotline to the vaccinator was set up for all parents concerned and comprehensive medical advice was offered on how to proceed,” the state informed. The vaccine against HPV (“Gardasil9”) is generally recommended from the ninth birthday, so in this case it was administered one to two years too early and was therefore off-label.
No evidence of increased risk
“The parents are now being advised by us, including how the HPV vaccination can be completed,” explained state health director Petra Gruber-Juhasz. “According to experts, there is no evidence that there is an increased health risk in such a case.” A second partial vaccination is necessary for the protective effect. Gruber-Juhasz spoke today of a regrettable isolated case. Normally, due to the standardized processes, a mix-up is very unlikely. The fact that this happened was probably due to the fact that the school had planned on Tuesday to also vaccinate older school children against HPV at the same time.
Source: Nachrichten
