A 82-year-old Colorado woman who expected to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at a local vaccination clinic was mistakenly injected with an empty syringe, according to a local report.
On January 12, Rosalee Pike, 82, was taken by her granddaughter, Jamie Withnell, to a COVID-19 clinic at a mall in Pueblo, Co., to receive her first dose. A trained medical professional administered the jab, and after receiving it, Pike was asked to move to an area where officers would monitor it for any adverse reactions to the shot.
“The error was discovered through normal PDPHE security processes. As soon as the error was discovered, we consulted our medical officer and determined that the person was safe. The individual then received a vaccine,” health officials said in a statement.
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Fifteen minutes later, “we were notified that there was a problem with her vaccine and that she never received it,” Withnell told the local KOAA news station.
Certainly, a photo that Withnell took while his grandmother received the photo showed that there was indeed no vaccine in the syringe.
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“I zoomed in on the syringe and the plunger was fully down,” she said. “There was nothing in it.”
“Pre-filled syringes were delivered to my workstation. When I took a syringe and injected the vaccine – the syringe was empty,” said the medical worker who administered the injection to Pike in a Health Department incident report. Public Health and Environment (PDPHE), as reported by KOAA.
“We confirm that a contracted nurse administered an empty syringe to an old man from Colorado, mistakenly thinking it was filled with a vaccine. The syringe was new and there was no risk of it being used, as used syringes are discarded immediately, according to normal safety protocol, “a PDPHE spokesman said in a note to the broadcaster.
“The error was discovered through the normal safety procedures of the PDPHE. As soon as the error was discovered, we consulted our senior medical officer and determined that the person was safe. The individual then received the vaccination.”
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Despite being an isolated incident, health officials said they have implemented “additional security measures” to ensure that such an occurrence does not happen again, such as “limiting the number of people filling needles and having fewer additional people in the room”.
“We are reviewing the safety protocols with all the hired nurses again and we provide safety instructions each day before vaccination clinics start.”
To date, more than 9,700 Pueblo residents have received the vaccine, PDPHE said. Overall, more than 375,000 doses of vaccine have been administered in Colorado to date, according to official estimates.