Several patients at a CVS pharmacy in Massachusetts received incorrect doses of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine on Monday.
A CVS spokesman told DailyMail.com that the pharmacy in Ipswich – 30 km from Boston – gave some people a dose of 0.3 milliliters (ml) instead of the correct dose of 0.5 ml which recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
This is 40 percent lower than the dose they had to receive.
It is unclear how many patients were affected by the error, but the spokesman described it as a ‘limited number’.
“We have contacted all affected patients to apologize for this incident and answer questions,” the spokesman said.
“We have reported it to the appropriate regulatory agencies and taken the necessary steps to prevent it from happening again.”
A CVS in Ipswich, Massachusetts (pictured), gave a ‘limited number of patients’ the wrong dose of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine on Monday.
Patients received a dose of 0.3 milliliters (ml), 40% lower than the correct dose of 0.5 ml recommended by CDC. Pictured: three vials of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Berlin, Germany, 17 February
Doctors and the CDC say that as long as a patient’s first shot is half a dose, or 0.25 ml, it will be fully protected once he receives a second dose. The US currently vaccinates between 1.6 and 1.7 million people a day
Carol Kennedy Hurley, of Arlington, was one of the patients who received the wrong dose at the Ipswich CVS.
She told WCVB that she had received a call from a pharmacist at the location and said she had given the 0.3 ml recommended for the Pfizer shot rather than the Moderna one.
“A certain amount of people who went in on Monday did not get the right dose,” she said.
“The pharmacist who worked at CVS on Monday had previously distributed the Pfizer vaccine and he must have accidentally gotten confused.”
Doctors say that receiving at least half a dose – 0.25 ml – will still provide protection until it’s time for the scheduled second dose.
“It’s probably still going to be effective, but we do not have a lot of data,” he said. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, said in a report to DailyMail.com. email.
Hotez added that Dr. Moncef Slaoui, head of the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed program, “even said that half a dose could even be an acceptable strategy.”
Recently, a study using Moderna’s Phase II trial data was published in the journal Vaccine, suggesting that the company’s coronavirus shot can still elicit a strong immune response, even via half doses.
Researchers looked at levels of antibodies that bind to the vein protein – which the virus uses to infect cells – and levels of neutralizing antibodies that kill the virus.
They found that both the current two-dose regimen and half the amount of ‘significant’ immune responses could elicit.
However, health officials do not recommend that patients currently receive half the dose of the vaccine.
As of Thursday, 41 million Americans – 12.5% of the population – had received one dose and 16.1 million – 4.9% of the population – had been fully immunized.
At least 73 million doses have been delivered, with President Joe Biden currently on course to reach the goal of 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office
The CVS spokesperson told DailyMail.com that based on CDC and clinical guidance, it is not recommended that patients affected by the error receive a third dose.
Those who received the 0.3 ml dose can get their second and final shot next month and will still have full protection.
Kennedy Hurley told WCVB she has an appointment for her final dose planned over four weeks.
“I think it’s very important that the people who do the vaccinations are really aware of the fact that, if they do not do it right, people are going to accept that they are good and not,” she said.
Currently, the U.S. vaccinates on average between 1.6 and 1.7 million Americans a day against COVID-19, an increase of less than one million a month ago.
President Joe Biden is currently on track to reach his goal of 100 million shots in his first hundred days in office – but the pace must accelerate to reach his plan to vaccinate almost all adults by the end of the summer.
As of Thursday, 41 million Americans – 12.5 percent of the population – had received one dose and 16.1 million – 4.9 percent of the population – had been fully immunized.
