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Potentially compromised flu shots given out at San Diego VA Hospital

Posted at 5:41 PM, Oct 18, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-18 22:32:55-04

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- More than 1,500 people may have been given a compromised flu shot because of a bad refrigerator.

The San Diego VA says all veterans and staff will be notified to come back and get another flu shot.

Officials say VA workers discovered a refrigerator that was storing the vaccines in the pharmacy had risen above the recommended range of 36 to 46 degrees.

The VA says they have alarms and monitoring devices, but somehow the error was able to occur.

The director of the hospital says there are no negative side effects to getting a bad flu shot but this isn’t the start to flu season they wanted.

"I am very unhappy this happened here. This is really unacceptable that we did not catch this sooner and prevent these doses from reaching patients,” said SDVA Director Robert Smith. “That's something I'm going to be looking into and how it can be prevented in the future."

The VA says the refrigerator was eight degrees over the limit, but those who visited the hospital between October 9 and October 13 are being told to get another vaccination.