AHS contacting 131 patients to advise them to get new shots for tetanus

Alberta Health Services (AHS) says vaccines given to 131 people to protect them against a potentially dangerous disease may have been ineffective.

The agency said in a statement Wednesday that the vaccines may be ineffective due to incomplete temperature monitoring of a vaccine fridge.

“There are expectations that the temperature be able to be checked, that the ranges are clearly identified. There’s opportunities to make sure everyone along the pathway of this process are informed and can be educated accordingly.”

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The government agency says these people, who were patients receiving treatment for tetanus prone wounds, should get a new shot.

The dTap vaccine also protects against diphtheria and whooping cough.

The patients received the vaccine between Nov. 1 and Jan. 11 at the WestView Health Centre emergency room in Stony Plain.

The agency says it is notifying the 131 patients by letter and there is no threat to the public.​

An Alberta government website says tetanus is a bacterial disease that attacks the nervous system and can cause muscle spasms, breathing difficulty, seizures and death.

“So the biggest risk is that people who have had a vaccine that has not been properly stored is the falsehood that they are protected from those agents,” Hasselback said. “So in this case we’re talking about diptheria, tetanus and pertussis.”

In a release Wednesday AHS said, “Although the risk of tetanus infection is very low, AHS is notifying the patients related to this monitoring error and recommends that those individuals get re-immunized.”

“AHS regrets that this issue has resulted in an impact to our patients and we have ensured that proper monitoring is in now in place.”

– With files from Kerry McAthey, 630CHED News