Health and Disability report finds toddler given wrong vaccination

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A nurse has been criticised after administering the wrong vaccination to a toddler in a report released today.

A woman took her 23-month-old son to a medical centre for a vaccination. She requested the Infanrix®-IPV vaccination instead of the Infanrix®-hexa vaccination listed on the New Zealand National Immunisation Schedule.

The nurse administered the wrong Infanrix®-hexa to the child.

Two weeks later the mother discovered the vaccination error and reported it to the medical centre.

The Health and Disability report found the registered nurse was in breach of the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights.

Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner Meenal Duggal found that by not administering the correct vaccination to the boy, the nurse failed to provide the boy services with reasonable care and skill.

Duggal said the error was an individual clinical error, not the fault of the clinic.

Duggal recommended that the nurse complete training in effective communication with consumers and that the medical centre train staff on the new procedures in its internal immunisation protocol.

The medical centre has since advised that the staff training has been completed.