Health Dept.: Wrong Hep A dosages given after Papa John's exposure

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Mecklenburg County Health Department has announced that some people who may have received a Hepatitis A vaccination following a scare at a northeast Papa John's restaurant in March may have been given the wrong dose of the vaccine.

According to a Health Department spokesperson, "During the recent Hepatitis A vaccination clinics related to an ill worker at a Charlotte area Papa John's, a small number of people were inadvertently given the incorrect dose of the vaccine. This means that in some cases an adult dose was given to a child or a child dose was given to an adult."

The Health Department said it is informing all those who received the incorrect dose and added that no known health risk is associated with this type of incident.

Adults who received the child dose of the vaccine are being asked to return to the Health Department to receive the adult dose.

County leaders said the Health Department sent out a letter last week informing about 30 people, mostly children, they'd either received double doses of the hepatitis a vaccine or not enough.

The Health Department gave out thousands of those vaccinations last month to people who may have been exposed to the disease.

This week, Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James learned about the mistake and posted on Twitter stating, "Meck County issued a notice about a flaw in the 'Papa Johns' hepatitis vaccine. No impact from flaw evident."

On the phone Thursday, Commissioner Dumont Clark said he's upset.

"I think we all felt it was unfortunate that in some instances people may have received a dose than they should have received," he said.

The Health Department wouldn't say how the mistake happened.