A vaccine that’s given to all Iowans, mostly as children, is the subject of a voluntary recall. Merck and Company is recalling two types of "Hib" vaccines which protect against a bacteria that causes meningitis. Dr. Patty Quinlisk, Iowa’s chief epidemiologist, says a total of about a million doses of the vaccine are being recalled in Iowa and nationwide.
Quinlisk says inspectors at the factory "found issues that made them concerned about the vaccine," not that anything was necessarily wrong with the medicine they contained. She says Iowa parents whose children have gotten the vaccine should -not- be concerned and they don’t need to take the kids back in to see the doctor.
Quinlisk says you don’t need to get another vaccine if you’ve already gotten one. There have been no reports in Iowa or in the U.S. of any bad reactions to the vaccine, she says, "so the risk is incredibly low." While Iowans don’t need to take any action based on the recall, she says it’s still important that people be kept informed.
Quinlisk says: "We don’t want any vaccine that’s out there to be used right now, just on the very low risk that it could cause a localized infection. We did want to tell people about it. If you got the vaccine, you are vaccinated: the vaccine should have worked. If you didn’t have a localized reaction within the first week, you’re not going to have one and you’re just fine." For more information on the vaccine recall, look under "Vaccine News" on the Centers for Disease Control website .