Multiple patients at a CFS pharmacy in Massachusetts received wrong doses of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine on Monday.
A CVS spokesperson told DailyMail.com that the drugstore in Ipswich – 30 miles from Boston – was giving some people a dose of 0.3 milliliters (ml) instead of the correct 0.5 ml dose recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
This is 40 percent lower than the dose they should have received.
It’s unclear how many patients were affected by the error, but the spokesperson described it as “a limited number.”
“We have contacted all affected patients to apologize for this incident and to answer any questions,” the spokesperson said.
“We have reported it to the appropriate regulatory authorities and have taken appropriate steps to prevent this from happening again.”
A CFS in Ipswich, Massachusetts (pictured) on Monday gave a ‘limited number of patients’ the wrong dose of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine
Patients received a dose of 0.3 milliliter (ml), 40% lower than the appropriate 0.5 ml dose recommended by the CDC. Pictured: Three vials of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Berlin, Germany, February 17
Doctors and the CDC say that as long as a patient’s first shot is half a dose, or 0.25 ml, they will be fully protected once they get a second dose. The US is currently vaccinating between 1.6 and 1.7 million people a day
Carol Kennedy Hurley, of Arlington, was one of the patients who received the wrong dose on the Ipswich CFS.
She told WCVB that she received a call from a pharmacist at the site and had been given the 0.3 ml recommended for the Pfizer injection instead of the Moderna injection.
“A certain number of people who came in on Monday were not given the correct dosage,” she said.
“The pharmacist who worked at CFS on Monday had given out the Pfizer vaccine before that, and he must have been accidentally confused.”
Doctors say receiving at least half a dose – 0.25 ml – will still provide protection until it is time for the scheduled second dose
“ It will probably still be effective, but we don’t have much data, ” Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, told DailyMail.com in an e-mail. mail.
Hotez added that Dr. Moncef Slaoui, the head of the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed program, “even said giving half a dose might actually be an acceptable strategy.”
A study was recently published in the journal Vaccine using Moderna’s Phase II trial data, suggesting that the company’s coronavirus injection may still trigger a strong immune response, even at half doses.
Researchers looked at levels of antibodies that bind to the spike protein – which the virus uses to infect cells – and levels of neutralizing antibodies that kill the virus.
They found that both the current two-dose regimen and half that amount were able to elicit “significant” immune responses.
However, health officials are not recommending that patients receive half a dose of the vaccine at this time.
As of Thursday, 41 million Americans – 12.5% of the population – have received one dose and 16.1 million – 4.9% of the population – have been fully immunized
At least 73 million doses have been administered, while President Joe Biden is currently on track to hit the target of 100 million shots in his first 100 days in the office
The CFS spokesperson told DailyMail.com that, based on CDC and clinical guidelines, it is not recommended that patients affected by the error receive a third dose.
Those who received the 0.3 ml dose can have their second and final injection next month and still have full protection.
Kennedy Hurley told WCVB she has an appointment for her last dose in four weeks.
“I think it’s really important that the people doing the vaccinations are really aware that if they don’t do it correctly, people assume everything is fine and they aren’t,” she said.
Currently, the US is vaccinating an average of 1.6 to 1.7 million Americans a day against COVID-19, up from less than a million a month ago.
President Joe Biden is currently on track to meet his goal of 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office, but the pace must be ramped up to meet his plan to vaccinate nearly all adults by the end of the summer.
As of Thursday, 41 million Americans – 12.5 percent of the population – have received one dose and 16.1 million – 4.9 percent of the population – have been fully immunized
