Parents have enough to worry about when it comes to the health of their children. The very last thing they should have to fret about is whether the vaccinations their children receive at their regular checkups are effective and safe. Unfortunately for parents who trusted Dr. Michael Bleiman, a pediatrician in New Jersey, this became their reality when it was discovered during an inspection that some of the vaccines being given to children weren’t being stored properly at the doctor’s practice.
Parents have enough to worry about when it comes to the health of their children. The very last thing they should have to fret about is whether the vaccinations their children receive at their regular checkups are effective and safe. Unfortunately for parents who trusted Dr. Michael Bleiman, a pediatrician in New Jersey, this became their reality when it was discovered during an inspection that some of the vaccines being given to children weren’t being stored properly at the doctor’s practice.
The discovery resulted in the temporary suspension of Dr. Bleiman, which ended when, according to state health officials, a settlement was reached with the doctor, requiring him to “pay a $156,000 fine and change his office practices.”
So how was the problem discovered? What vaccines were impacted? For starters, a warning was issued back in January of this year that an estimated “900 children may have been given faulty vaccines at Bleiman’s practice in Manahawkin between November 2014 and July 2016.” The warning was issued by the state health department, with officials claiming the vaccines “may have been stored at improper temperatures, which reduces their effectiveness.” As for what the vaccines protect against, well, they protect against a wide variety of different illnesses, including the mumps, measles, and chickenpox.
According to officials, the “affected vaccines were administered as part of Vaccines for Children,” a popular, “federally funded, state-operated program” that provides eligible children from low-income families throughout New Jersey with “free or low-cost vaccines” every year.
Unfortunately, this incident comes at a time when many parents across the country are already wrestling with whether or not vaccines are safe for their children. More and more families are choosing to opt out of getting their children vaccinated, and when incidents like the one that occurred at Dr. Bleiman’s office happen, it could end up causing more families to opt out of vaccinations for their children. Some experts worry that if this trend of families refusing to vaccinate continues, we could see a rise in outbreaks of diseases that haven’t been around in a long time. That being said, pediatrician offices, for the safety and well-being of their little patients, really need to be held accountable for faulty and ineffective vaccines, and should always strive to ensure that what they’re giving children is safe.
Sources:
Pediatrician Reaches Settlement With State in Vaccines Case
Pediatrician who improperly stored vaccines agrees to pay $156K in fines, reimbursement
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