"We tell ourselves that they can inject us with anything!
Rita exclaims.
On April 3, his sister Enza, 70, had an appointment at the Châtillon vaccination center to receive her first dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19.
But that day the staff injected her with physiological saline instead of the vaccine.
A case far from isolated: "This concerns a total of 54 people in the same day", recognizes the vaccination center, which immediately reassures: "This injection is safe for humans, in accordance with the opinion of the Regional Center of pharmacovigilance of Ile-de-France.
"A figure confirmed by the regional health agency, which specifies having been" immediately alerted ".
"The staff mistakenly used vials of serum," explains the instance.
A precedent in the Marne
This "error" echoes that made on Tuesday, April 20, at the vaccination center in Epernay (Marne), in eastern France.
One hundred and forty people had also received a dose of serum, a solution made from salt water, rather than the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine.
Rita discovered this problem in Epernay through the media last weekend.
“The fact that this happens in two places is questioning,” she notes.
On April 3, the fifty-something, who accompanied her sister, remembers having thought "that the liquid in the syringe seemed to her in very small quantity".
Despite everything, the care is going "really well".
An error during the preparation
But on April 15, the doctor in charge of the center informed her sister by telephone that she had received "a low immunizing dose" and that she must therefore "resume an appointment for two new doses".
“There would have been a problem during the preparation.
But I don't understand why we were warned twelve days later, ”Rita annoys.
In the days that follow, Enza finds a signed letter from the vaccination center, dated April 12, in his letterbox.
The document indicates this time that he was administered "a non-vaccinating dose composed of physiological serum".
Enza received a signed letter from the vaccination center informing him of the error and dated April 12.
LP / MB-L.
A last mention which surprises the two sisters.
"We wonder if people steal vaccines by replacing them with serum," asks Rita, reading the letter.
This categorically refutes Eric May, the doctor in charge of the center.
“It's impossible,” he assures us.
I perform a daily count of the vials in the locked room.
"
It is also thanks to this count that the doctor noted "excess bottles" on Saturday, April 3, at the end of the day.
But for him, this "incident" is explained "very easily".
Most vaccines like Moderna are already prepared but Pfizer must be solved, he recalls.
With a view to the injection, the preparer thus performs “a mixture based on vaccine and drops of serum.
Any medical product that is being prepared can experience an incident due to human intervention, ”he emphasizes.
"Staff were reminded of the rules"
However, Enza claims to have experienced "typical vaccine" symptoms, such as "heavy legs" after the injection.
"There may be sensitivity to an infinitesimal dose of vaccine, but it is still necessary to revaccinate for patient safety, according to the recommendations of the pharmacovigilance center", replies Eric May.
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The fact remains that for the two sisters, their mishap raises the question of "the rigor of the preparers' checks."
"I carry out two checks, noon and evening, by retracing all the steps of the procedure which is very supervised", certifies the doctor, who specifies that "the staff were reminded of the rules in force in order to prevent the 'incident happens again'.
Each day, the Châtillon center vaccinates an average of 450 patients.
For now, the regional health agency has not come back to us to clarify whether other incidents than those of Châtillon and Epernay have been reported in France.