Child injected without consent

Press, 8 June 1989, Page 5

Child injected without consent

PA Auckland Another child in Auckland has been vaccinated against hepatitis B without parental consent. Joel Stirling, aged 5, was mistaken for his 10-year-old brother when Smith Kline Biologicals vaccinated pupils at Prospect School, Glen Eden, in its user-pays scheme. His mother, Mrs Jean Stirling, could not understand how Joel was mistaken for his brother Gavin, who is in Standard 4 and is five years older and with a different date of birth.

Joel’s age also meant the vaccination should have been free, she said. Smith Kline Biologicals’ general manager, Mr Fraser McKenzie, was unaware of the blunder although Mrs Stirling had complained to the company.

He said action had been taken to ensure mistakes never occurred again after he was told about Olivia McKay, aged 6, who was vaccinated against her parents’ wishes at Sherwood Primary School, Browns Bay, last Wednesday.

Mr McKenzie said the vaccination procedure had now changed. Each child was stamped on the back of the hand when they were checked against the parental consent form. No child without the stamp would be vaccinated. "