Dozens of people expecting COVID vaccine get wrong injection in WV, officials say
West Virginia officials say they’re reviewing vaccine procedures after dozens of people at a COVID-19 vaccination event received the wrong shot.
Forty-two people expecting the Moderna vaccine were instead injected with the Regeneron antibody treatment on Wednesday, according to the West Virginia National Guard.
“While this injection is not harmful, it was substituted for the vaccine,” Dr. Clay Marsh, head of the state’s COVID-19 response, said in a statement. “But this occurrence provides our leadership team an important opportunity to review and improve the safety and process of vaccination for each West Virginian.”
The Regeneron antibody cocktail was granted emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in November to treat individuals infected with the coronavirus. President Donald Trump received the experimental treatment while he battled the virus in October.
The antibody treatment is still going through clinical trials, and Regeneron reports promising results, according to Market Watch.
Heath officials “do not believe there is any risk of harm,” according to the West Virginia National Guard.
The 42 people who erroneously received the antibody treatment have been contacted, according to the Boone County Health Department, which hosted the event.
“It has been determined that this was an isolated incident,” the department said in a Facebook post, adding that it will work with the National Guard and other state agencies “to review all internal policies and procedures.”
“The moment that we were notified of what happened, we acted right away to correct it,” Maj. Gen. James Hoyer, Adjutant General of the West Virginia National Guard, said in a statement. “I remain incredibly proud of all that our team has accomplished. Our number one goal has been to save lives, and, as we continue to ramp up distribution of the vaccine all across the state, we continue to save more and more lives every single day.”
While there have been few reports of vaccine mix-ups, the rollout process isn’t going as smoothly as many had expected, McClatchy News reported. Of the 14 million doses shipped to the U.S., 2 million had been administered as of Wednesday.
“That number is lower than what we had hoped for,” Dr. Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser on the government’s vaccine rollout, said at a new conference. “We know it should be better, and we are working hard to make it better.”
This story was originally published December 31, 2020 at 3:32 PM with the headline "Dozens of people expecting COVID vaccine get wrong injection in WV, officials say."