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HomeLocal

More bumps in vaccine rollout

Questions swirl around double-dosing nurse who continues to practise

November 09, 2009 5:03 a.m.
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TORONTO - A Brampton, Ont., man is questioning why the nurse who gave his young daughter and almost a dozen other children double the recommended dose of the H1N1 flu vaccine is still giving out the swine flu shot.

It's just the latest problem to surface in Ontario's bumpy rollout of the swine flu vaccine.

That rollout has included vaccine shortages, days-long lineups for vaccinations at public clinics and board members at about a dozen Toronto hospitals and several players and staff from the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs and the NBA's Toronto Raptors being allowed to jump the queue in getting their flu shot ahead of the general public.

Ted Hedrich said in an interview from his home in Brampton on Sunday that he was told that his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Selena, was one of 11 children who were given the higher dose by a nurse working at the Indell Lane clinic last Monday afternoon.

But he wasn't called by a Peel Public Health supervisor until Thursday when he was told of the error, he said.

Health officials have recommended young children only get half the adult dose initially - which would be 0.25 ml for children - and then get the other half several weeks later. But Hedrich said his daughter was given 0.5 ml.

Hedrich said he was told the nurse now has been retrained on the proper procedure.

"I was absolutely shocked," he said, that the nurse was still giving flu shots.

He said he thinks the nurse should lose her licence, noting someone who accidentally shoots someone with a gun would likely go to jail.

A second Peel Public Health supervisor called him on Friday to express sympathy and ask how his daughter was doing, but didn't give him a formal apology, he said.

He took Selena to their family physician on Friday and was told to take his daughter for X-rays because she had a "slight rasp" in her chest, he said, adding she hasn't felt well since getting the vaccine.

"She's got the sore throat, runny nose, dysentery. There's been no fever and no ...[next page]

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