Several patients who went to a CVS site in Massachusetts this week to receive their coronavirus injections were given wrong doses of the vaccine, according to the company.
A “limited number” of patients at the company’s pharmacy on Central Street in Ipswich inadvertently received 0.3 milliliter doses of the COVID-19 vaccine instead of the correct 0.5 milliliter doses recommended by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , a CVS spokesman told MassLive in a statement.
It is not clear exactly how many people were affected by the error.
“We contacted all affected patients to apologize for this incident and answer any questions they may have,” said the spokesman. “We report this to the appropriate regulatory agencies and take the necessary steps to prevent this from happening again.”
The spokesman noted that based on the CDC and clinical guidance, another dose of the vaccine is not recommended for patients who have been impacted by the company’s error. Affected people may get their second scheduled injection next month, according to the spokesman.
WCVB reported that a woman who received her vaccine for viral respiratory infection on Monday at the Ipswich site was contacted by a CVS pharmacist, who said she received the dosage of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which is less than the vaccine Modern.
According to the CDC website, the dosage of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is 0.3 milliliters, while that of Moderna is 0.5 milliliters.
The dosing error is yet another in a line of setbacks that occurred during the launch of the coronavirus vaccine in Massachusetts.
The State House New Service reported that lawmakers, after expressing frustration with the state’s implementation, are scheduled to start hearings next week to review Governor Charlie Baker’s vaccination efforts and hear testimonies from his government about his distribution process and future plans.
Almost all members of the federal delegation to the Massachusetts Congress, except US Representative Richard Neal, also wrote a letter to Baker earlier this week asking him to establish a centralized vaccine pre-registration system. Lawmakers described the state’s current registration process as “disjointed and complicated”.
The state’s online booking portal crashed on Thursday morning, when nearly a million Massachusetts residents became eligible to schedule an appointment to receive their COVID-19 vaccine.
The setback comes after Baker announced on Wednesday that the state would allow priority group 2 in Phase 2 of the launch to receive its vaccines starting on Thursday. The priority group includes people aged 65 and over, individuals with at least two comorbidities that put them at high risk for coronavirus and residents and / or low-income employees and affordable housing for the elderly.
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