Woman offers free flu shots at Augsburg, then flees

[Hoss68]

Gregg Aamot, Associated Press
December 4, 2004

Police were looking for a woman who gave what she said were flu shots to more than two dozen people at Augsburg College, then fled when asked for information about her credentials.

State Health officials said they didn't know what was in the shots, but no one had reported any ill effects as of Friday. The shots were given on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

"We don't believe at this time that those who got shots are in any immediate, serious danger,'' said Doug Schultz, a spokesman for the Health Department. "It is possible that it was flu vaccine, and it's also possible that it was saline. But we don't know.''

People who reported getting a shot from the woman were being monitored by Hennepin County health officials, Schultz said.

In a statement, Augsburg said a woman wearing green scrubs and a white lab coat sold shots over three days at the Minneapolis school's Christensen Center. She claimed to be with the American Heart Association, but when asked for more information, she left campus, the school said.

The American Heart Association told the school the woman was not affiliated with the organization.

The college asked anyone who received a shot to contact campus security and their own physician.

School officials didn't immediately return a call Friday afternoon from The Associated Press.

Fewer flu shots are being given this year at clinics in Minnesota and around the country because of a vaccine shortage.

Last month, flu-shot maker Chiron Corp. announced it could not ship its 48 million doses after British health officials suspended the maker's license because of contamination at a Liverpool plant. That means less vaccine is available for people at the highest risk for severe complications or death, such as the elderly and those with chronic heart or lung disease.

Two years ago, a Kansas pharmacist pleaded guilty to fraudulently drawing blood from 16 women.

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Pretty scarey if you ask me.

[odannyboy]

Yes, if someone just injected me with an unknown substance and then fled without a trace I'd be a little bit worried about it.

You know, one person by their lonesome, not affiliated with the Red Cross or someone easily recognizable and obvious to me and I'm still going to think twice about any shots, but this time I would have never even gotten close to this woman. These people are pretty gullible.

[Hoss68]

Originally Posted by odannyboy

Yes, if someone just injected me with an unknown substance and then fled without a trace I'd be a little bit worried about it.

Bad needles, bad serum... They may not know for years what she did to them.

There's a sucker born every day, this place must be breeding them.

[JohnRN]

Pretty scarey if you ask me.

I agree.

Forget the bad needles, bad serum.

There are cases where known HIV+ patients have run around town injecting or stabbing people with contaminated needles and blood.

I'm not pulling up some crazy story. There are well documented cases in Karachi, Pakistan -- for example.

Please, this is my sinciere request to the entire COMMUNITY --- before anyone sticks you with anything! Ask them this:

1. Name and accredition (for example, Dr. Jones, MD)
2. Ask them to show SOME sort of proof that they are legit. Usually, most have ID cards and a certificate authorising them to run the clinic.

If you still aren't satisfied - ask to speak to the chief supervisor. If that doesn't work -- walk away.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE Don't blindly accept shots from ANYONE. A good way to check if these are legit -- call up the local area hospitals and ask them about the area shots schedule. Cross check with local medical and nursing colleges.

This isn't just about your health - this is about your life.

[Snowden]

John, all they really need is air anyway, isn't it?

[Hoss68]

Originally Posted by John.

There are cases where known HIV+ patients have run around town injecting or stabbing people with contaminated needles and blood.

This is why it freaked me out so bad.

Flu vaccine scam halted
Josephine Marcotty and Maura Lerner, Star Tribune
December 4, 2004

A 33-year-old woman suspected of selling fake flu shots for $20 each at Augsburg College in Minneapolis was arrested Friday night after investigators tracked her down at a relative's house in Belgrade, Minn., southwest of St. Cloud.

Minneapolis police said they would not know until today whether the shots she administered Tuesday and Wednesday to about 28 students and faculty contained flu vaccine or something else.

State health officials said no one who received an injection had reported any ill effects.

Wearing scrubs and a white lab coat, she had set up shop in the commons area of Christensen Hall, the hub of the Augsburg campus.

When security officers pressed her for information about her credentials, she abruptly left.

She had claimed to be with the American Heart Association, but school officials later found that to be false.

Suzanne Jokela and Jessica Snider got fake flu shots.
Jeff Wheeler
Star Tribune

Police began looking for her Thursday. They knew little about her Friday night but were investigating what she had injected into the students and faculty and whether she had any kind of medical background.

Judy Petree, an Augsburg spokeswoman, said that state health officials believe that she probably had a harmless saline solution in the shots she administered.

Witnesses told investigators that the syringes were properly sealed and packaged, and the woman was properly disposing of used needles, said Kris Ehresmann, head of the Minnesota Department of Health's immunization unit.

Health officials said that anyone who received a shot from the woman at Augsburg should see a doctor and will be monitored by public health officials. Still, some people said they continued to worry about what might have been in the syringes.

"Yeah, there is a small possibility it could be dangerous," said Suzanne Jokela, a freshman from Duluth, who got a shot from the woman on Tuesday. "But it was probably some kind of saline solution and she was just trying to make money."

Both she and her roommate, Jessica Snider of West St. Paul, said their doctors told them that they should get tested for hepatitis, syphilis and HIV, to be safe.

Several students said the woman didn't initially attract attention because they'd seen a similar set-up earlier this month when the school offered meningitis shots.

Michelle Connolly, a 21-year-old junior from New Brighton who got a shot from the mystery woman Wednesday night, said the "nurse" asked her to write a $20 check to the American Heart Association. Then, while Connolly was writing the check, the woman said "Ready?" and stuck the needle in her arm without cleaning the skin first. Connolly doesn't remember if the woman used a clean needle.

When she heard that the woman was a fake, she said, "I started freaking out." Although she feels fine, she said she's worried that her health could be at risk. "I cannot believe that Augsburg would allow a person to be on campus three days," she said Friday. "She should have been caught within the first 10-15 minutes that she was there."

Since then, Connolly said she has been getting mixed messages about whether to see a doctor. College officials have told her she's not in any danger, she said. "They're telling us nothing, that it's fine, that it's just water in there," she said. "How do you know?"

Snider said when she got her shot Tuesday night, she thought it odd that the woman would not let her pay with her Augsburg prepaid cash card; she would accept only cash or credit card, Snider said. And the woman did not ask her to sign a waiver or offer a receipt.

"It's made me a little more cynical," Snider said. "No light bulb went on ... That's a little scary that you don't always have that instinct."

Ann Garvey, Augsburg's associate dean for student affairs, said that the college is conducting a thorough review to find out what happened and what can be done to prevent a similar problem in the future. "Our best news is that no one has reported a health-related difficulty that we might trace to the shot," she said.

She said some of the people who got the shots said they felt foolish about being duped. It was easy to be fooled "because it looked legitimate," she said.

Minneapolis police spokesman Ron Reier said that after police investigators found out the woman's name, she was identified by witnesses in a photo line-up and traced to relatives in Belgrade. Reier said she is from Albertville, Minn.

She was expected to be booked late Friday night at Hennepin County Jail.

A similar suspicious flu clinic is under investigation in Bellingham, Wash. Police and health officials there are investigating claims that a woman posing as a nurse might have sold fake flu shots for $30 each to shoppers at local stores on Nov. 5 and Nov. 13. About 130 shoppers received injections, paying cash. She had told store managers she was affiliated with a visiting nurse service and had just received a batch of flu vaccine.

A store spokeswoman said a manager became suspicious when a customer complained of pain in his arm after getting a shot.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

[sailordoc]

Imagine what those people are going through while they wait to find out what was in the needle?

I thought I was having a bad day.