Uppsala Reports Long Reads – Vaccination errors risk harm and damage trust

Medication errors with vaccines can harm individual patients, but
when they also undermine trust in public health programmes,
serious problems can ripple across entire communities – as the
Samoan healthcare crisis of 2018 dramatically showed. The
Institute for Safe Medication Practices offers straightforward
advice that could prevent those errors from happening
again.

This episode is part of the Uppsala Reports Long Reads series –
the most topical stories from UMC’s pharmacovigilance magazine,
brought to you in audio format. Find the original article
here.

Tune in to find out:


Which errors can occur in the vaccination process

Why two-component vaccines are especially susceptible to
administration errors

How vaccine packaging and labelling can be improved to
prevent errors



Want to know more?


The Institute for Safe Medication Practices has repeatedly warned
about the risks with two-component vaccines. In 2015, they issued
a position statement calling for safer design of vaccine
packaging and labelling.

Tragic errors can occur when dangerous substances are
accidentally used instead of the vaccine diluent, like the
incident that occurred in Syria in 2014.

The measles outbreak that took root in Samoa as a consequence of
vaccine hesitancy – which in turn stemmed from an earlier, tragic
vaccination error – holds important lessons for the rest of the
world.






Join the conversation on social mediaFollow us on
Facebook, LinkedIn, X, or Bluesky and share your thoughts about
the show with the hashtag #DrugSafetyMatters.

Got a story to share?We’re always looking for new
content and interesting people to interview. If you have a great
idea for a show, get in touch!

About UMCRead more about Uppsala Monitoring Centre
and how we work to advance medicines safety.