A clinic in Taipei has mistakenly inoculated 23 people with the second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine that was different from what the recipients had registered for, the city's Department of Health said Saturday.
The 23 individuals were incorrectly given a shot of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on the previous day after they had made appointments to get a second dose of the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine, according to the department, which did not identify the clinic.
It was not immediately known if those people have experienced any adverse effects from the incident.
The department said the clinic, which was scheduled to administer AZ vaccine shots between Nov. 10-12 and Moderna vaccine shots on Saturday and Monday, failed to follow strict vaccine jab preparation protocols for nurses and pharmacists to prevent mistakes such as incorrect inoculation from happening.
In line with the protocols, medical staff are required to read the label of a drug once when retrieving it from the medicine cabinet, read it a second time when providing the drug, and read it a third time when returning the drug to the medicine cabinet.
Also, medical professionals must confirm the right patient, the right drug, the right time, the right dose, and the right route when providing medication to patients.
The clinic therefore has been ordered to suspend COVID-19 vaccination services until improvements are made, the department said.
Chuang Jen-hsiang (???), deputy director-general of the Centers for Disease Control, said the 23 people do not need to receive an additional AZ vaccine shot because despite the mixup, an AZ/Moderna combination is considered full vaccination.
A similar mistake took place earlier this month in southern Taiwan's Pingtung County, when 88 people who had made an appointment to get a second dose of the Moderna vaccine at Antai Tian-sheng Memorial Hospital were incorrectly given a shot of the AZ vaccine.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel