Agency: Nurse reused syringes while giving flu shots

At an employer-sponsored flu clinic at Otsuka Pharmaceuticals last week, the unnamed nurse committed an “infection control breach”, according to a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Department of Health.

Dozens of co-workers are being screened for HIV and hepatitis after a nurse was found reusing a syringe to administer flu shots.

Read the letter in part: ‘Syringe reuse may have exposed you to infected blood, ‘.

TotalWellness says the nurse was a contractor and that it’s working with officials to notify patients and get them resources for potential medical risks.

Standard procedure dictates that both the needle and syringe should be only ever be used once and disposed of. The department said this lapse exposed to the employees to infected blood, though there were no immediate reports of disease transmission.

In addition to failing to change syringes, the nurse reportedly gave less than the recommended dosage of flu vaccine to each employee, NBC10 reported.

Nearly 70 employees at a pharmaceutical company are being tested for multiple diseases after receiving unsafe flu shots.

Officials also set up a phone line for the employees to call with questions.

On September 30, 2015, TotalWellness was alerted that a nurse it had contracted to administer flu vaccinations to 67 employees for an employer group in New Jersey failed to follow proper medical procedures and safeguards to properly administer vaccinations to potentially all 67 participants.