NJ Officials Shut Down Clinic After 5 Children Receive Wrong or Out-of-Date Vaccines

— -- Health authorities have shut down a New Jersey clinic after finding that five children had been given improper vaccines at the county-run facility.

Of the 22 patients treated at the “Shots for Tots” clinic between June 2014 and June 2015, five children were subjected to “medication dispensing errors,” the Salem County Board of Chosen Freeholders said in a statement.

All the children were younger than 5 and their families have been notified, officials said. Two of the children were given out-of-date vaccines, one child’s chart was illegible, a 1-year-old child was given a flu mist approved only for those older than 2 and, most worryingly, a 2-year-old boy was given too much Gardisil, the county board said.

“The nature, likelihood and extent of any negative health effects, if any, are not presently known other than that the child may be at risk of neurologic damage,” county officials said of the child who received an "excess" of the Gardisil vaccine, which fights against the HPV virus to decrease the risk of cervical cancer.

All families have been notified by the health department of the errors and free medical monitoring has been offered to the families, according to Salem County Attorney Michael Mulligan.

No negative side effects have been observed in the children, according to Mulligan. The Shots for Tots clinic was in space donated by a local hospital, but was staffed and run by the Salem County Health Department.

In addition to the five children affected, at least $20,000 worth of vaccines was destroyed after they were improperly refrigerated. The clinic has been indefinitely suspended after the investigation and two of the nurses involved resigned during the county investigation.