Four health professionals from northern Germany were sent to the hospital on Sunday after accidentally receiving five times the recommended dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
Officials in the Vorpommern-Ruegen district reported that eight workers in an elderly care unit overdosed on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, with four in development flu-like symptoms and being monitored as a precautionary measure. When the error was discovered, the workers, aged between 37 and 54 years old, were informed and sent home.
“I deeply regret the incident,” said district chief Stefan Kerth in a statement obtained by The Hill. “This individual case is due to individual errors. I hope that everyone affected does not experience any serious side effects. “
District officials cited previous statements by BioNTech that indicated that higher doses were used in the first phase of testing and did not lead to serious consequences.
Pfizer and BioNTech pointed out that for those who receive an overdose of the vaccine, “monitoring of vital functions and possible symptomatic treatment is recommended.”
The incident occurred days in Germany and the Launch of the European Union of the vaccine, EU approved drug regulator last week. The United States and the United Kingdom approved the vaccine earlier this month and began distributing the first doses in recent weeks.
Together with Pfizer, the EU has contracts with AstraZeneca and Moderna for its vaccination campaign and plans to vaccinate 6.25 million people by the end of the year.
Some German districts refused to use the doses of the vaccine received over the weekend, due to concerns that the cold conditions required for the vaccine would be interrupted during delivery, Reuters reported on Monday. The Pfizer vaccine needs to be shipped between -112 degrees and -76 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
—Updated at 2:25 pm