Investigations after a mix-up in school vaccinations in Salzburg – Austria –
After two vaccines were mixed up in a Salzburg elementary school in the Hallein district in November 2022, a person in the medical service is now being investigated for negligent bodily harm. As a spokeswoman for the Salzburg public prosecutor’s office explained on Thursday when asked by APA, the parents of an affected child filed a complaint with the police.
On November 8, instead of a quadruple booster vaccination to protect against polio, diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, an active ingredient against human papillomavirus (HPV) was used. 33 children in a second grade were affected by the mix-up.
For the parents of these children, comprehensive medical advice was offered on how to proceed, the state of Salzburg had informed at the time. The vaccine against HPV (“Gardasil9”) is generally recommended from the ninth birthday, but in this case too it was granted one to two years too early and was therefore off-label.
State Medical Director Petra Gruber-Juhasz had explained that, according to experts, there would be no evidence of an increased health risk in such a case. You speak of a regrettable isolated case. Normally, due to the standardized processes, a mix-up is very unlikely. The fact that it nevertheless happened probably had something to do with the fact that in this school on that Tuesday it was planned to also vaccinate older school children against HPV at the same time.
Due to the complaint of the parents of an affected child, the Salzburg public prosecutor’s office has initiated investigations against a doctor. The exact facts had yet to be ascertained, said prosecutor spokeswoman Elena Haslinger. Witnesses and the accused person would also have to be questioned.