Forty-two families in Spain have taken legal action against a nurse who they allege failed to give their children their proper vaccinations, their lawyer said Thursday.
The nurse worked for 18 months at a government clinic in Santurtzi, near the city of Bilbao, in the Basque region of northern Spain, according to lawyer Aitzol Asla.

The regional health service launched an investigation in October after receiving complaints about the nurse’s behavior.
When parents took their children to be vaccinated, “it seemed like something was off,” Asla reported. “Then some of the parents began to detect that the way and the way to inoculate the vaccine, was done very hidden and that it was done very quickly and then they threw the vial directly into the garbage container and they saw that it was full.”

The lawyer added that the nurse, whose name was not released, made “anti-vaccine comments, which were very absurd and out of place.”

When health authorities tested the blood of affected children, it was found that many did not have the antibodies that would be expected when receiving the vaccines. The legal case centers on the nurse’s falsifying immunization records, which showed injections were given when they apparently did not, and the misuse of public funds by throwing away unused medication.

Beyond the families taking legal action, Spanish media reported that up to 400 children may have been affected.

Asla is now awaiting court instructions for the families to appear and testify after filing the case last month, saying the parents want the nurse banned from working in the public health system.

Anti-vaccine sentiment is rare in Spain. The country has the second highest rate of public confidence in vaccines in the European Union after Portugal, according to bloc statistics published last year. Spanish government statistics show that the acceptance of most childhood vaccines is above 90%.