An 82-year-old Colorado woman expecting to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at a local vaccination clinic was mistakenly injected with an empty syringe, according to a local report.
On Jan. 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 her the jab, and after receiving it, Pike was asked to move to an area where officials would monitor her for any adverse reactions to the shot.
Fifteen minutes later, "we were notified that there was a problem with her vaccine and that she never received it," Withnell told local news station KOAA.
Sure enough, a photo that Withnell took while her grandmother received the shot showed that there was indeed no vaccine in the syringe.
NJ EXPANDS COVID-19 VACCINE TO SMOKERS BUT TEACHERS, OTHER ESSENTIAL WORKERS KEPT WAITING"I zoomed in on the syringe and the plunger was all the way down," she said.
When I took a syringe and injected the vaccine — the syringe was empty," the medical worker who administered the jab to Pike said in an incident report from the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment (PDPHE), as reported by KOAA.
"We confirm that a contract nurse administered an empty syringe to an older Coloradoan, mistakenly thinking it was filled with a vaccine.
As soon as the mistake was discovered, we consulted with our top medical officer and determined that the person was safe.
"We are reviewing safety protocols with all contracted-nurses again and provide safety briefing each day before the vaccination clinics begin."
To date, more than 9,700 Pueblo residents have received the vaccine, the PDPHE said.
Overall, more than 375,000 vaccine doses have been administered in Colorado to date, per official estimates.
Source