Sandusky kids received spoiled vaccines
State health department releases corrective action plan Family Health Services was ordered to follow after systems breakdown
SANDUSKY — A corrective action plan obtained by Stay Tuned Sandusky shows that Family Health Services’ Sandusky High School clinic wasted 73 federally funded vaccine doses after failing to properly monitor storage temperatures for more than four months during the 2024–25 school year.
The May 2, 2025, letter, signed by Cheryl P. Vitale of the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), details significant lapses in vaccine management, including spoiled doses, wasted federal tax dollars, and doses given to ineligible patients.
According to the plan:
73 doses of federally funded Vaccines for Children (VFC) stock were spoiled after being stored without functioning temperature monitoring equipment at Sandusky High School. The vaccines, valued at $6,279 in federal funds, included HPV, Meningococcal, MMR, and Tdap.
12 doses were administered to patients with commercial insurance who were not eligible for the VFC program. ODH ordered Family Health to replace those doses using its own commercial inventory.
Because the spoiled doses may have been administered, Family Health was ordered to notify families and offer revaccination at no cost.
The corrective action plan requires Family Health to submit new vaccine management policies, restitution worksheets, and proof of compliance by deadlines in June, July, and August of this year.
It’s unknown if those deadlines were met.
ODH wrote:
“Without temperature data to determine if the vaccine was stored according to manufacturer’s storage guidelines, ODH determined that 73 doses of VFC refrigerator vaccine were wasted. Due to the lack of temperature data, these children may have received spoiled or ineffective vaccine during the stated timeframe. Your office will need to notify the parent/guardian of these children and offer revaccination at no cost.”
The ODH corrective action plan was sent to Family Health Services May 2, but the first public notices to the school district and to families did not happen unilaterally mid- to late-August. David Tatro, CEO of Family Health Services, has not said why it took several months before notices were sent.
The school district wasn’t informed of the problem until after StayTunedSandusky.com published a news story on Sept. 3.
The plan also notes the spoiled doses totaled more than $9,000 in replacement costs if purchased privately.
The newly obtained document confirms that vaccine spoilage occurred, children received potentially ineffective doses, and thousands of federal tax dollars were lost.
Family Health Services faulted for:
The corrective action plan issued May 2 cites two areas of non-compliance:
1. Vaccine storage and handling failures
Vaccines were kept in a Sandusky High School refrigerator with a temperature monitoring device that had a dead battery from June 27, 2024, until February 5, 2025.
During that time, vaccines were stored and administered without proper temperature records, meaning ODH could not verify they were safe or effective.
As a result, 73 doses were deemed spoiled — a loss of $6,279.24 in federal funds — and children who received them must now be offered revaccination at no cost.
ODH ordered Family Health Services to notify affected families, develop a written notification plan, and file documentation showing which patients were re-vaccinated.
2. Improper eligibility screening
Family Health Services admitted that 12 doses of Vaccines for Children (VFC) stock were given to patients with commercial insurance, even though federal rules restrict the doses to children who meet VFC eligibility.
The organization must replace those 12 doses with commercially purchased vaccines, submit a new written policy on eligibility screening, and prove that restitution doses were later given to eligible children.
