Coronavirus: German care home workers accidentally given vaccine overdose

An oversight has led to eight care workers at a residential home on the north German coast receiving five times the recommended dose of the vaccine. Four were taken to hospital after developing flu-like symptoms.

Germany's COVID-19 vaccination program got off to an inauspicious start over the weekend after eight care home workers in the city of Stralsund received an overdose, authorities said Monday.

Officials said the workers in the elderly residential home, all aged between 38 and 54, received five times the recommended amount of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine on Sunday.

Seven women and one man received the overdose, four of which ended up in hospital as a precautionary measure after coming down with flu-like symptoms.

Deep regrets, individual errors

"I deeply regret the incident," Stefan Kerth, the administrator of the Vorpommern-Rügen district where the care home is located, said in a statement. "This individual case is due to individual errors. I hope that all those affected do not experience any serious side-effects."

Vorpommern-Rügen authorities stressed that BioNtech has previously stated that larger doses were administered in the first phase of the vaccine study without serious consequences.

Germany, along with a number of other European countries, began inoculating its population over the weekend.

#Coronavirus #BioNTech #COVID-19 #vaccine #Pfizer #Covid

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.