“Negligence and recklessness” by health officials caused 11 children to be injected with expired vaccines, according to Dr. Abdul Fatah Bin Ibrahim Sindi, of the Directorate of Health Affairs in Qunfudah. He said some directors of the health centers where the incidents took place should be held accountable. He said they had not performed their duties properly. He also apologized to the children and their parents for the mistakes. He said the medical supply warehouses also contributed to the mistakes because they sent out these vaccines even though they were about to expire. He said the children were summoned and re-vaccinated with new valid measles vaccine. He said a committee has been formed under the chairmanship of the Director of the Followup Administration at Qunfudah Health Affairs to start an investigation into the incident and to punish those responsible. He said he had issued directives for a training course to be held for all the nurses working in the immunization rooms at the health centers. He had also instructed managers of warehouses to destroy all expired vaccines. The Stores Control Administration discovered the incident during an inspection of five health centers in Beni Zaid, Therban, Kayyad, Al-Sho'ab and Al-Maqass. At the Al-Sho'ab center the team found 114 doses of expired vaccines. It found 14 liquid measles vaccine and 40 expired doses of measles vaccine at the Therban health center; and eight doses of hepatitis vaccine unfit for human consumption at the Kayyad health center.
