Question About Air Bubbles in Vaccine Shot at Pediatrician's Office

Hi J.,
I give my son shots of human growth hormone every day and one day I thought I had given him a shot with air in it, so I called the pharmacy in a panic. I had a long discussion with the registered pharmacist and he told me the same thing. It is perfectly safe for a little air to get into an intramuscular injection. He said with IV meds going to the vein it can be dangerous but it would take a lot of air before anything bad would happen. Hope that makes you feel at ease. Take care!
~K.

Some premeasured syringes contain an air bubble which is intended to be injected by the manufactor. This small bubble seals the site and prevents the medication from leaking out.Medications drawn from a multi dose bottle have air expressed from the syringe by the person administering it.
The main concern about air in a syringe is when injecting into a vein or artery. It is not good to inject air into the bloodstream. But, even with that it takes a large amt. to be harmful, much more than a single bubble.

unless the shot goes into a blood vessel, the bubbles won't hurt anything. i am a medical assistant, worked about 25 years in various doctors' offices.

Hi, I'm a nurse, actually when an injection is going into muscle a little air bubble in the syringe is a good thing. There are medications that if they leak back out the needle track into other tissue, like the fat layer under the skin, it can cause irritation to that tissue, or it may not be absorbed well like they are in the muscle. So actually it is often the goal to have a small air bubble in the syringe because the air goes in last and acts like a little "plug" to keep the medication where it is supposed to be. The air is then just absorbed by the tissues. Sorry you had to worry about this, the person who spoke to your husband really should have explained it better.