A 23-year-old Italian woman was given six doses of the Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19 but is not known to have suffered any adverse side effects.
Local health authorities said the woman, who was receiving her first shot, was given the extra doses at a Tuscany hospital on Sunday by a nurse who immediately realized the error.
“This is something that should never happen,” said Dr. Tommaso Bellandi, director of patient security for the northwest Tuscany health authority, according to CBS News. “Unfortunately, due to our limits as human beings, as well as organizational limits, these things can happen.”
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The patient was kept under observation for about 24 hours in the hospital’s emergency room and was given fluids and anti-inflammatory and fever medications.
Dr. Antonella Vicenti, director of infectious diseases at Noa Hospital where the error occurred, said the patient is unlikely to experience any future side effects, citing studies that showed that people who had received up to five times the normal dosage didn’t suffer any consequences.
Bellandi said each vial of the Pfizer vaccine contains six doses, which have to be individually extracted and placed in separate vials, where they can be diluted. The nurse had injected all of the liquid from an undiluted vial, according to Bellandi.
“She thought that the dilution had taken place,” Bellandi said. “They are both transparent liquids of the same density. Unfortunately, this contributed to the error.”
Doctors will test the patient’s blood regularly to see if she will need to schedule a second dose of the vaccine in the next few weeks.
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The hospital is undergoing an investigation to review safety procedures.
