At least two children have fallen severely ill after a clinic in California administered wrong Covid-19 vaccine doses to multiple children on Thursday. The clinic reportedly gave the Covid-19 vaccine shots that were higher than what is authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Worried parents are demanding an explanation on how the health officials could be so reckless and irresponsible to confuse between the doses allotted to children and adults. Experts have said that the children will be fine in the long term although though they are experiencing more severe side effects right now.
Too Dangerous
At least two of those kids have seriously fallen ill while dealing with side the effects of the vaccine, their mother told ABC7 as they remain worried about their health. The incident happened at Sutter Health, in Antioch, around 30 miles east of Oakland.
According to reports, health officials accidentally gave 14 children aged five to 11 dosages of the vaccine double the approved size, by the FDA according to KABC. "I'm here tonight to report my story because it's unacceptable; you expect your medical professionals to give you correct doses," parent Denise Iserloth told ABC7.
Iserloth said she took her two children, ages eight and 11, to the clinic over the weekend, where they received 20 micrograms of dosage instead of the recommended 10. All the 14 children received double the dose. Children aged five to 11 are supposed to receive 10 microgram doses of the vaccine, a third of the size of the 30 microgram doses meant for people aged 12 and older.
Severe Side Effects
Although all the 14 children are now suffering side effects of the vaccine, two children are in critical condition. Iserloth said that one of her children fell down twice because of the vaccine side effects, and both had to stay home from school Monday due to their illnesses.
However, health officials didn't realize initially that the children have been administered double the dose recommended. Iserloth said that the clinic called her up after almost 10 hours to tell that both her children had been given wrong doses. However, by that time the two kids had already started having side effects.
"We would have assumed that there was more in place to prevent this from happening, but obviously at this place there wasn't," Shawn Iserloth, father of the two children, told the outlet.
A local area physician told ABC 7 that the children should be okay, and the symptoms should subside after a couple of days. Interestingly, he revealed that the children were tested with 10, 20, and 30 micrograms during clinical trials.
Experts believe that the children will be fit and fine in the long term but right now they will have to bear with it. On the other hand, Sutter Health added that it is now reviewing how the mistake unfolded and how to prevent it from happening again.
"The safety of our patients is our top priority, and we immediately reviewed our processes to help make sure this doesn't happen again. According to the CDC, patients who receive a vaccine with an incorrect diluent volume may experience more arm soreness, fatigue, headache, or a fever in response to the dose given," Dr. Jimmy Hu, chair of the Sutter Health COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force, said in a statement.
