The health authorities of the state of Lower Saxony (Germany) have started an unusual campaign to revaccinate more than 8,500 people in the town of Friesland, after discovering that they may have received an injection with saline water (serum) instead of a vaccine against covid.
A 40-year-old Red Cross nurse acted in this way between March 5 and April 20 at a vaccination center in Friesland, a rural district near the North Sea coast.
This negligent practice by the nurse was discovered on April 21 through a report from another employee. The professional assures that she did not use the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in six vaccinations, but a saline solution. According to her, she made that decision so as not to have to report that she had dropped the vials. The Red Cross nurse was expelled from the facility and fired. The police and the prosecution are investigating a possible crime of assault and if found guilty she could be sentenced to up to ten years in prison.
The district vaccination center will host the repeat inoculation beginning this Friday, a district spokesperson announced.
According to the Lower Saxony Health Ministry, 8,557 people should be punctured.
The authorities have not yet pointed out the reasons that the nurse had for injecting saline water as a substitute for the vaccine, but they believe that she did so for political reasons, as it has been discovered that she had previously expressed skeptical opinions about immunization on her social networks.
More information
Germans are suspicious of AstraZeneca's vaccine
Upset in Germany over the vaccination in Munich of hotel employees arriving from Italy
The possibility of imposing restrictions on the unvaccinated causes a political storm in Germany
Risk group affected
A spokeswoman for the Hannover Ministry of Health said on Wednesday that the population of the Friesland district was reacting very cautiously. "We still do not know if serious illness from covid-19 has occurred from saline injections," the spokeswoman said. Although this serum is harmless, the majority of those who received the serum are older people at high risk of contracting COVID-19, which is potentially more harmful in older patients. According to the Friesland district police, which has already opened an investigation, among those affected are people over 70 years of age, health workers and caregivers who came to get vaccinated at that center. “This is of particular concern to me, because these are the people we most want to protect,” said Sven Ambrosy, Friesland district chief. According to Ambrosy, the 8,7% of the district population will have to take an additional dose.
"It is false that, due to the behavior of our client, vaccination doses that only consisted of saline were administered," the nurse's lawyer, Christoph Klatt, told the Protestant EPD press service on Thursday. Instead, he had tried to compensate for the loss of vaccines from an accidentally broken vial by refilling the syringes with remnants of other vials. Our client did not act out of political motivation, nor did she limit herself to administering saline solution to those who were willing to be vaccinated, ”added Klatt.