A Walgreens in southern Indiana “accidentally” administered adult Covid vaccines to a family’s 4 and 5 year-old children. The vaccine administered is not approved for children younger than 12.
The family of four went to Walgreens in Evansville on October 4 to get their yearly flu shots but were called by an employee after they left to inform them of the mistake.
The family was then given COVID-19 vaccine cards, which showed that the children, born in 2016 and 2017, were given the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, WFIE reported.
After this “accident” both children began to show signs of heart issues according to their pediatrician. The 4-year-old has also been sick with a cough and a fever. Myocarditis, a heart condition involving fluid accumulating near the heart, has been found to be a rare side effect of the Pfizer vaccine but seems to grow more common in younger male individuals.
“The family said they left the pharmacy thinking they had received their flu shots, but a Walgreens employee later called them and said they had made a mistake. The attorney said the cards were then issued since the coronavirus vaccine had been given.”
Pfizer submitted a request for Covid vaccine approval for children 5-11 years old last week. However, children in this age group would be given a third of the dosage compared to those given in adults, not the full doses that these two children received from Walgreens.
Walgreens seems to be making this mistake quite a bit despite claiming that these events are rare. At the end of September, a 4-year-old child in Maryland was accidentally given a Covid vaccine instead of the flu shot.
Walgreens said in a statement to the TV station at the time that “events like this are extremely rare and we take this matter very seriously.” Do they though?
“Our multi-step vaccination procedure includes several safety checks to minimize the chance of human error. We’ve recently reviewed this process with our pharmacy staff in order to prevent a future occurrence,” the company said in September.
If this multi-step procedure includes safety checks, why does this keep happening? If anything detrimental happens to these young children, what will Walgreens do? Continue to promise that these are simply rare mistakes?
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