Jet Injectors = Jet Infectors
May 21, 2016
In December 1976, the U.S. Navy Medicine newsletter ran a brief article for any military installments seeking to conduct mass jet injector vaccination campaigns to call-in a special team of corpsmen. The article, “Help Available For Mass Immunization Programs” put-out by the Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine Unit No. 5., sheds light on the military’s mass jet injector vaccination campaigns. As noted in the article:
- “Jet Injector guns can immunize up to 700 people each hour, so arrange the schedule to allow as many people as possible to participate each minute.”
- In creating a vaccination line allow for a 10-foot space before and after the jet injector. Meaning the only persons in close proximity to the jet injector were the vaccinator and the vaccinee. Therefore to contest any naysayers, there was no other medical staff in the immediate vicinity to cleanse the nozzle of the jet gun.
- 10-feet following the jet injection was a corpsman checking for any bleeders.
Herein is evidence from a trained jet injector team that immediately following jet injections there was the presence of blood. With blood present the risk of transmitting blood-borne pathogens, such as hepatitis C, was also present.
Here is the article in its entirety:
Help Available For Mass Immunization Programs
The Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine Unit No. 5 offers the services of a jet injector team for mass immunization against influenza, tetanus, cholera, typhoid, smallpox, and yellow fever. The jet injection apparatus has not been approved for use with booster plague vaccine or with tuberculin PPD.
Generally, the team should be called in only when at least 100 people are scheduled for immunization. Smaller commands are encouraged to coordinate their immunization programs with other ships and stations to create a large enough workload to justify the team’s visit.
Requests for the team’s services should be submitted at least 14 days before the date set for immunization. Send requests to: Officer in Charge, Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine Unit No. 5, Naval Station Box 143, San Diego, Calif. 92136. Or telephone (Area code 714) 235-1261/62/63/64; or Autovon 958-1261.
The following instructions must be followed to obtain maximum benefits from the jet injector team:
Jet Injector guns can immunize up to 700 people each hour, so arrange the schedule to allow as many people as possible to participate each minute. Do not schedule immunizations for a payday unless they can be given before pay is distributed. Before the jet injector team arrives, screen all personnel who have known allergies.
Provide easy entrance and exit to the immunization area. The following physical layout is recommended:
Entrance
Acetone prep station
10-foot space
Jet injector guns
10-foot space
Bleeder check station
Inoculation form container
Exit
The ship or station medical department should furnish the following personnel and supplies: a physician, who must be in the immediate vicinity; two hospital corpsmen—one to prep the arm, one to check for bleeders; sufficient immunization material; cotton swabs; acetone; Band-aids; an emergency tray.
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