Bad mishap at the vaccination center: Children are given vaccines that have not been approved for them - reaction follows promptly

Created: 12/21/2021, 05:47 AM

From: Jonas Raab

As of this week, children under the age of twelve can also be vaccinated in Germany.

(Symbolic picture) © NurPhoto / imago

So far, only the vaccine from Biontech has been approved for children under the age of twelve.

In a vaccination center in North Rhine-Westphalia, however, they were given another vaccine.

• Breakdown with the child vaccinations in the vaccination center Attendorn district Olpe (North Rhine-Westphalia).

• Several children were given the wrong vaccine on Sunday (December 19th).

• The NRW Ministry of Health commented on the incident on Monday (December 20).

Update from December 20, 1:51 p.m

.: Three children are affected by the vaccine breakdown, said the NRW Ministry of Health (MAGS) at the request of the dpa news agency. Three children between the ages of seven and eleven accidentally received the booster vaccine from Moderna - in half the dose - instead of the children's vaccine from Biontech, which is approved for their age group. At first, the number of children affected and the amount of vaccine were still unclear.

"According to the information available to the MAGS, the children affected are doing well and so far no side effects have been identified," it said in Düsseldorf.

According to the police, after the incident at the vaccination center in Attendorn, a couple of parents with two children filed a complaint against the person who is said to have carried out the incorrect vaccination for bodily harm

.

After a breakdown with child vaccinations - district administrator announces consequences

Update from December 20, 12:37 p.m

.: The breakdown with the children's vaccinations in the vaccination center in the district of Olpe (North Rhine-Westphalia) has consequences. Younger children were vaccinated with the "wrong" vaccine on Sunday (December 19th) (see first report below). Biontech is currently only approved for children aged five to twelve. However, Moderna (approved from the age of twelve) was vaccinated in the arm of the affected children. In a statement from the district, no abnormalities were found in the children who received Moderna when they left the vaccination center.

The incident is now being processed internally there.

A spokeswoman for the district administration said on Monday that the medical and organizational head of the vaccination center, District Administrator Theo Melcher (CDU) and “all other people of concern” would exchange views “very promptly”, said a spokeswoman for the district administration on Monday, as reported by the dpa news agency.

How many children received Moderna on Sunday is still unclear, said the spokeswoman.

Whether "only" a medical assistant or other people in the vaccination center injected Moderna children on Sunday also still needs to be clarified.

At first it was also unclear whether the affected children had even received the full adult dose. 

Children vaccinated Moderna: Parents file charges of assault

One of the parents had filed charges of assault. The complaint is directed against the person who is said to have carried out the incorrect vaccination on Sunday in the vaccination center in Attendorn, a police spokeswoman said on Monday. The parents have two children under the age of twelve who have received the vaccine from Moderna. 

The police investigations have so far been directed against a person, as the police spokeswoman said.

At the same time, the public prosecutor's office will assess “whether there has been bodily harm or not”.

At the same time, the public prosecutor's office will assess “whether there has been bodily harm or not”.

According to the district administration, it has not yet been conclusively clarified whether only a medical assistant had accidentally injected Moderna into children on Sunday or whether there were incorrect vaccinations by other employees. 

"The vaccination center has taken the individual failure of the specialist staff as an opportunity to review all procedures and child vaccinations", can be read in the statement from the district of Olpe.

The mistake was therefore noticed by the vaccinating medical assistant. 

According to the

, parents of two affected children described the processes differently.

They noticed the incorrect vaccination based on the entry in the vaccination card.

They then informed the police and filed the complaint.

The NRW Ministry of Health will be informed about the process on Monday, the district announced on Sunday.

There was initially no information on this from the Ministry in Düsseldorf.

Mega mishap in the vaccination center: Children are injected with vaccines that are not approved for them

First report from December 19, 2021

Attendorn - The first week in which children from the age of five could be vaccinated against Corona in Germany is history.

At the end of the week, however, there was a serious breakdown in a vaccination center: Several children were injected with a vaccine that was not approved for them at all.

The incident occurred on Sunday (December 19) in the vaccination center of the Olpe district in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Several children there received a Moderna injection - although so far only the Biontech agent has been approved for them.

"The parents of the children concerned were informed about the incident immediately," the district announced.

Breakdown in NRW vaccination center: Children get Moderna instead of Biontech

In a conversation with the medical management of the vaccination center, the parents of the children concerned had been informed that approval for children had been applied for from the European Medicines Agency for the Moderna vaccine. The children who were injected with the wrong vaccine had no abnormalities when they left the vaccination center, it said.

At the request of the parents, the incident was reported to the police according to information from the German Press Agency.

It was noticed by the vaccinating medical assistant himself, it was said.

How many children are involved was not disclosed.

The vaccination center took the failure of the specialist staff as an opportunity to re-examine all procedures and child vaccinations.

"If further cases are found, the parents will be informed," it said.

Child vaccination started: only Biontech has been approved so far

The European Medicines Agency, EMA, gave the green light in November to approve Biontech / Pfizer's corona vaccine for children aged five and over.

It is the first corona vaccine approved in the EU for children under the age of twelve.

The children should only receive a third of the adult dose of the vaccine and two doses three weeks apart.

The Moderna vaccine Spikevax has so far been approved in the EU for people aged twelve and over.

However, the Standing Vaccination Commission recommends that people under 30 only be vaccinated with Biontech products.