Spontaneous reports of vaccination errors in the European regulatory database EudraVigilance: A descriptive study

Prevalence of errors causing events allegedly attributable to vaccination/immunization: systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

To identify the prevalence of errors that caused events supposedly attributable to vaccination or immunization.

METHOD

Systematic literature review with meta-analysis carried out on the Medline, Cochrane Library, Cinahl, Web of Science, Lilacs, Scopus; Embase; Open Grey; Google Scholar; and Grey Lit databases; with studies that presented the prevalence of immunization errors that caused events or that provided data that allowed this indicator to be calculated.

RESULTS

We evaluated 11 articles published between 2010 and 2021, indicating a prevalence of 0.044 errors per 10,000 doses administered (n=762; CI95%: 0.026 - 0.075; I2 = 99%, p < 0.01). The prevalence was higher in children under 5 (0.334 / 10,000 doses; n=14). The predominant events were fever, local pain, edema and redness.

CONCLUSION

A low prevalence of errors causing events was identified. However, events supposedly attributable to vaccination or immunization can contribute to vaccine hesitancy and, consequently, have an impact on vaccination coverage.

Construction and validity of an educational video to prevent immunization errors

OBJECTIVE

to construct and validate an orientation video, based on a low-fidelity clinical simulation scenario, to prevent immunization errors.

METHODS

a methodological study with video construction, validated in two stages by different audiences. Content was selected based on a realistic simulation scenario of the vaccine administration process to a patient-actor. Items with concordance greater than 0.8 and 0.6 were considered valid, verified using the Content Validity Index (CVI) and the Content Validity Ratio (CVR), respectively.

RESULTS

judges' CVI had an average of 97.5%, and CVR, 0.9, and health professionals' CVI, 95.4%, and CVR, 0.8. Successes in administering vaccines were addressed, such as careful reading of labels, double-checking the vaccine, distractions/interruptions and error reporting.

CONCLUSIONS

the video was constructed and validated in terms of content, and can be used in training professionals working in vaccination.

Incidence of immunization errors in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil: a cross-sectional study, 2015-2019

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the incidence of immunization errors in the public health service of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study, based on errors reported on the National Immunization Program Information System between 2015 and 2019. A descriptive analysis and calculation of the incidence for the state's health macro-regions were performed.

RESULTS

A total of 3,829 notifications were analyzed. Children younger than 1 year old were the most affected (39.1%) and the intramuscular route accounted for 29.4% of the errors. The most frequently reported error was administration of vaccines outside minimum and maximum recommended ages (37.7%). There was a higher incidence of errors in Vale do Aço (26.5/100,000) and Triângulo do Norte (22.6/100,000) macro-regions.

CONCLUSION

Immunization errors showed a heterogeneous incidence among the macro-regions of the state of Minas Gerais, between 2015-2019, and the administration of vaccines outside minimum and maximum recommended ages was the most frequently reported error.

Analysis of immunization errors in pregnant women

OBJECTIVE

To analyze immunization errors in pregnant women from Minas Gerais, according to the absence and presence of Adverse Events Following Immunization.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional study, carried out with data on immunization errors in pregnant women, between 2015 and 2019, registered in the Information System for the Surveillance of Adverse Events, in Minas Gerais. The trend of the incidence rate of immunization error per 100,000 doses applied was checked using Prais-Winsten models.

RESULTS

Of all notifications, 3.72% were vaccination errors with adverse events following immunization. The highest proportion of immunization errors with no adverse events (32.40%) was in the macro-region Centro and, with adverse events (27.78%), in Triângulo do Sul, both with a stationary trend in the period. Regarding the incidence rate, the macro-region with the highest immunization errors with no adverse events was Vale do Aço and the macro-region with the highest incidence rate of immunization errors with adverse events was Triângulo do Sul.

CONCLUSION

In this study, the notifications of Adverse Events Following Immunization resulting from vaccination errors with and without adverse events occurred with no significant trend within the years of the study.

IMPACT OF PLAN-DO-STUDY-ACT CYCLES ON THE REDUCTION OF ERRORS RELATED TO VACCINE ADMINISTRATION

ABSTRACT Objective: to evaluate the impact of a quality improvement program in the reduction of errors related to vaccine administration. Method: an intervention study aimed at comparing outcome measures before (Phase I) and after (Phase II) the implementation of a quality improvement program. It was carried out in a Basic Health Unit in the inland of São Paulo from March 2019 to November 2019. In the first phase, there was direct observation by Nursing professionals during the preparation and administration of the doses. In the second phase, an error was selected and subjected to four Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles to test the changes. The following quality tools were also used: root cause analysis, Ishikawa diagram and Pareto diagram. Results: a total of 164 doses of vaccines prepared and administered to 51 users were observed; 527 errors were identified and categorized into 13 types. In 27.7% of the observations made in Phase I, the users/guardians were not informed about potential adverse reactions. The goal of 100% of guidelines was established over an eight-month period, which was achieved in the second Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle and maintained in the third and fourth cycles, with confirmed improvement in the process. Conclusion: the quality improvement approach, based on Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles, contributed to the reduction of errors in the administration of vaccines and the change was sustainable, as it maintained over time.

Retrospective study of immunization errors reported in an online Information System

Objective:

to analyze the immunization errors reported in an online Information System.

Method:

retrospective study conducted with data from the Adverse Event Following Immunization Surveillance Information System. Immunization errors were analyzed with respect to demographic characteristics and the vaccination process. Frequencies and error incidence rates have been calculated. Binomial and chi-square tests were used to verify differences in the proportions of the variables.

Results:

501 errors were analyzed, the majority involving routine doses (92.6%), without Adverse Event Following Immunization (90.6%) and in children under five years old (55.7%). The most frequent types of errors were inadequacy in the indication of the immunobiological (26.9%), inadequate interval between doses (18.2%) and error in the administration technique (14.2%). The overall error incidence rate was 4.05/100,000 doses applied; the highest incidences of routine vaccines were for human rabies vaccine, human papillomavirus and triple viral; the incidence rate of errors with Adverse Events Following Immunization was 0.45/100,000 doses applied.

Conclusion:

it was found that immunization errors are a reality to be faced by the health systems, but they are amenable to prevention through interventions such as the adoption of protocols, checklists and permanent education in health.

Fatal outcomes following immunization errors as reported to the EudraVigilance: A case series

BACKGROUND

Serious adverse reactions after immunization are rare but do occur. In very rare instances, cases with fatal outcome have been reported. These reports can have a huge impact and even more so when due to an immunization error. The aim of this study is to systematically review immunization errors with fatal outcomes in EudraVigilance.

METHODS

This was a case-series analysis of Individual Case Safety Reports (ICSRs) reporting immunization errors and a fatal outcome. To determine the level of certainty of a causal association between the immunization errors and fatal outcomes two independent reviewers assessed all ICSRs using the WHO tool "Causality assessment of an Adverse Event Following Immunization (AEFI)". In accordance with the tool, the ICSRs were classified as consistent, indeterminate, inconsistent/coincidental, or unclassifiable. In addition, we estimated the contribution of reported errors to the fatal outcomes as large, moderate, small, none, or unclassifiable using a classification developed for this study.

RESULTS

A total of 154 ICSRs met the inclusion criteria. Vaccines reported most frequently were pneumococcal (33), rabies (27) and influenza vaccines (24). Most frequently reported errors were non-compliance with recommended schedules of immunization (63). The most frequently reported vaccine-error combination was rabies vaccines and non-compliance with a recommended schedule of immunization (23). Twelve cases were classified as consistent with causal association and had a large error contribution. These cases concerned a cluster of six cases reporting incorrect handling of multi-dose vials containing measles vaccine and six cases reporting administration of live-attenuated vaccines to immunocompromised patients.

DISCUSSION

In this study, we showed that fatal outcomes following immunization errors are very rare. Four key issues were the importance of: (1) quality control of multi-dose vaccines, (2) screening patients for immunocompromising factors, (3) education on the importance of adherence, and (4) measures to improve distinction between vaccines and medicines.