An 82-year-old woman from Colorado who was 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 January 12, Rosalee Pike, 82, was taken by her granddaughter, Jamie Withnell, to a COVID-19 clinic in a mall in Pueblo, Co., to receive her first dose. A trained medical professional stabbed her, and after receiving it, Pike was asked to move to an area where officials would monitor her for any adverse reactions to the shot.
“The fault was discovered through PDPHE’s normal safety processes. Once the fault was discovered, we consulted our top medical officer and determined that the person was safe. The individual then received a vaccination,” health officials said in a statement.
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Fifteen minutes later “we were informed that there was a problem with her vaccine and that she had never received it,” Withnell told local news station KOAA.
Sure enough, a photo Withnell took while her grandmother was getting the shot showed that there was indeed no vaccine in the syringe.
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“I zoomed in on the syringe and the plunger was completely off,” she said. “There was nothing in it.”
“Pre-filled syringes were delivered to my workstation. When I took a syringe and injected the vaccine, the syringe was empty,” the medical worker who inflicted the sting on Pike said in an incident report from the Pueblo Department of Public Affairs. health and environment. (PDPHE), as reported by KOAA.
“We confirm that a contract nurse administered an empty syringe to an older Colorado and mistakenly thought it was filled with a vaccine. The syringe was new and there was no risk of it being used as used syringes immediately discarded, according to normal security protocol, ”a PDPHE spokesman said in a statement to the news station.
“The error was discovered through PDPHE’s normal safety processes. Once the error was discovered, we consulted our top medical officer and determined that the person was safe. The person then received a vaccination.
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Despite the fact that it was an isolated incident, health officials said they have since implemented ‘additional safety measures’ to ensure that such an event does not happen again, such as’ reducing the number of people filling syringes and fewer people in the to limit room.
“We are again reviewing the safety protocols with all nurses contracted and providing safety information every day before the vaccination clinics begin.”
To date, the PDPHE has received more than 9,700 residents from Pueblo. In all, more than 375,000 doses of vaccine have been administered in Colorado, according to official estimates.