A vaccination clinic in Virginia falsely gave what they thought were COVID-19 injections to patients – but they were actually empty syringes.
The accident occurred when an employee falsely assumed that another colleague had filled the syringes before appointments Monday at a Kroger clinic in Midlothian, WRIC news channel reported.
“Less than 10” people were given an empty injection in place of the vaccine, a Kroger spokesperson told the outlet.
The supermarket chain, which has purchased more than 830,000 shots across the country, apologized for the mistake.
“We apologize for this oversight and any inconvenience to these customers,” the company said in a statement.
Each of the patients who received one of the empty shots has been notified.
“All affected customers have been contacted and have now received the COVID-19 vaccine,” said Kroger.
Carrie Hawes, who was one of the patients, said she was shocked when she received the call on Tuesday informing her that she had not received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
“My initial reaction was shock and surprise, and a bit of anxiety,” she told WWBT news channel.
She said they were more careful when she went for her second appointment.
“They were very clear with me when we went in,” she said. “They showed us the bottle to make sure it was Johnson & Johnson, took out the vaccine and showed it to me again.”
Kroger said they retrained workers at the clinic and contacted local health authorities.
“We are working closely with the Virginia Department of Health in this area,” the company said.