2,500 UK patients given substandard vaccines

A UK general practice has admitted storing vaccines at the wrong temperatures, leading to more than 2,500 patients being given potentially ineffective inoculations. The previous inspection was in 2005. People who have had an influenza vaccine since October 2007, as well as those receiving childhood or travel immunizations have been told to arrange for another dose.

The surgery in Holbeach, Lincolnshire, said that about half of the vaccines were for flu, with an additional 1,030 for travel. A spokesman for the local health authority told the UK's public broadcaster, the BBC, that 466 children were affected but that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine was not one of the products nvolved. No illnesses have been reported as a result of this lapse, the Lincolnshire teaching Primary Care Trust said.