CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Virginia (WWBT / Gray News) – Kroger says that a small number of people who came to the Little Clinic at their location near Midlothian Turnpike to get their COVID-19 vaccines ended up receiving an “empty syringe” after the company said earlier which was an injection of saline solution.
In a statement, the company says it was an “honest mistake”. They went on to say: “All affected customers have been contacted and have now received the COVID-19 vaccine. We apologize for this oversight and for the inconvenience caused to these customers. “
Earlier on Wednesday, Kroger said the injections were saline, but the company now said they were actually “empty syringes”.
Kroger also did not specify how many people were impacted by this confusion, only saying that it was a small number of people.
Carrie Hawes was one of the people who received this empty shot.
Hawes qualifies for injection in Group 1B for people aged 65 and under with underlying health problems.
She said she made an appointment to visit Kroger’s location on Monday night to take the picture of Johnson and Johnson’s COVID-19. The next day, Hawes received a call from a store she didn’t expect.
“I immediately spoke to a manager and he explained that he had made a mistake – that we received only saline. There was no vaccination material, ”said Hawes. “My initial reaction was shock and surprise, and a little anxiety.”
Two hours after that call, Hawes returned to Kroger’s site to receive the vaccine. Throughout the process, Hawes said the store was transparent about the situation.
“They were very clear with me when we entered,” she said. “They showed us the bottle to make sure it was Johnson and Johnson, they got the vaccine, she showed it to me again.”
Hawes hopes that his experience does not prevent people from getting the COVID-19 vaccines.
“Yes, it is a pity that there was a mistake, but it was a small number of people. The situation has been corrected, ”said Hawes. “I understand that it has been a long year and sometimes there is not much confidence in our systems and the process, but I think that everyone has the best intentions and the end result is to vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as we can, to that we can protect our community. “
Kroger also says he is not charging customers for the vaccine itself. They said they are charging the customer’s insurance for the administration fee and that there is no payment due at the time the customer receives the vaccine.
Read Kroger’s updated complete statement below:
We are proud of the more than 836,000 COVID-19 vaccinations that our teams Kroger Health and The Little Clinic have administered to date across the country. Kroger encourages everyone to receive any vaccine that is available to them as soon as they become eligible.
One of our TLC sites made a mistake and administered empty syringes instead of the COVID-19 vaccine. All affected customers have been contacted and have already received the COVID-19 vaccine. We apologize for this oversight and for the inconvenience caused to these customers.
This was immediately dealt with by the TLC team and all vaccinators were retrained and reminded of our current vaccination policies. We are working closely with the Virginia Department of Health on this issue.
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