{"id":662661,"date":"2026-10-31T12:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T12:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/662661\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T12:00:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T12:00:15","slug":"local-mother-reacts-to-albany-med-newborn-hepatitis-b-vaccine-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/662661\/","title":{"rendered":"Local mother reacts to Albany Med newborn Hepatitis B vaccine issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALBANY, NY \u2014 Albany Medical Center is facing renewed scrutiny after the New York State Department of Health discovered the hospital used a hepatitis B vaccine on newborns that may not have provided full protection.<\/a><\/p>\n

The issue surfaced as the Department of Health was preparing for a site visit and found Albany Med was not storing some hepatitis B vaccines at the proper temperature. The state required the hospital to contact affected families.<\/p>\n

Families were told the babies are not in immediate risk of getting hepatitis B, but they should contact their pediatrician to ask whether the vaccine should be repeated.<\/p>\n

Hillary Lohr, whose daughter McKenna was born July 1 at Albany Medical Center, said her baby received a hepatitis B vaccine July 3 before leaving the hospital. Lohr said she believed McKenna was up to date on her vaccines until she received a voicemail two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m calling from Albany Med on behalf of the nursery. This is not an emergency but I\u2019m calling about a vaccine your baby received after birth,\u201d the voicemail said.<\/p>\n

Lohr said she called back and was told all babies born this July at Albany Med received the faulty vaccine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was it was pretty irritating because they really didn’t tell me anything. And then they just said ‘Oh, well, you might have to get it again. She might not.’ And then to put the baby back through it again like it’s irritating,\u201d Lohr said.In a statement, Albany Medical Center said, \u201cIn coordination with the New York State Department of Health, we determined that certain Hepatitis B vaccine doses administered at our hospital during a recent timeframe may not have been fully effective because they were stored below the recommended temperature range for a brief period. The doses do not pose a health risk to patients but may not provide full protection against Hepatitis B. Affected families have been notified directly, and primary care providers have been informed that a repeat dose may be needed to ensure children remain fully protected. We apologize for this situation and have implemented additional safeguards to help prevent it from happening again.”<\/p>\n

The number of babies affected was not immediately clear. The Department of Health website had not updated its numbers since 2023.<\/p>\n

Lohr said her daughter already has health issues, adding, \u201cShe wasn’t gaining weight. She throws up constantly. She’s went on three different formulas.\u201d<\/p>\n

With those concerns, Lohr said she is considering changing providers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’re not helpful, really. So, it’s probably at this point, finding a different doctor,\u201d she said.The Department of Health said in a statement, “New York State maintains vigilant programmatic oversight to protect patients and ensure hospitals provide safe, quality care. Through a documentation review conducted in preparation for a site visit, the Department identified a vaccine storage incident at Albany Medical Center involving hepatitis B vaccine doses and proactive steps have been taken to mitigate any and all individual and public health impacts. A review of temperature logs showed that the doses were stored below the manufacturer\u2019s recommended temperature range and may not have provided full protection. The Department has required Albany Medical Center to submit a policy addressing temperature monitoring, prompt reporting of temperature excursions, and a system for tracking vaccine movement. While there is no immediate danger to affected patients, parents of the patients have been notified, and reimmunization through their child\u2019s health care provider is recommended. Patients and families with questions about whether a vaccination was affected or what follow-up is needed should contact Albany Medical Center. The Department will continue to oversee the hospital\u2019s corrective actions.”<\/p>\n

RELATED: Albany Med nurse criticizes leadership communication amid CEO sexual assault probe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALBANY, NY \u2014 Albany Medical Center is facing renewed scrutiny after the New York State Department of Health…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46],"class_list":["post-662661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}