An incorrect dose of the COVID-19 vaccine was distributed to hundreds of patients in Northern California.
Roughly 3,900 people received a lower than recommended dose of vaccine.
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Individuals were given the wrong dosage of COVID-19 vaccines
Kaiser Permanente Walnut Creek Medical Center in Northern California announced that anyone who received a dose of Pfizer between October 25 and December 10 of 2021 may have received a dose smaller than the recommended. Additional details can be found here.
People that were affected received between .01 to 0.04 mL less than the recommended 0.30-mL dose. As soon as hospital officials became aware of the mis-dosage, they began to collaborate with experts of infectious diseases and vaccine science experts. They also considered the guidelines from the CDC.
The experts were in agreeance that the difference between the recommended dose, and the probable dose received was not significant. It was also found that the dose given would not likely reduce individual protection against COVID-19.
To correct the mistake, Kaiser Permanente is offering to provide a repeat dose of Pfizer vaccine for individuals affected by the mis-dose. Kaiser Permanente is also offering special hours and locations to accommodate the affected individuals.
This issue was caused by instructions being misunderstood by hospital staff. Kaiser Permanente claims to have retrained the staff and started continuous monitoring to ensure this issue doesn’t happen again.
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Other times COVID-19 vaccines were administered wrong
Unfortunately, the Kaiser Permanente hospital isn’t the only case of wrongly administered vaccines. In November 2021, at a different vaccine clinic in Northern California, over a dozen children were given the wrong dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The health care provider has declined to say if the dose the children received was higher or lower than recommended.
At roughly the same time, a pharmacy in Virginia also administered the incorrect vaccine dose to children. Virginia Department of Health said that the children who received the incorrect dose of the vaccine at this specific pharmacy received a dose that was smaller than recommended.
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