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A 58-year-old Malaysian woman named Melur Ahmad was mistakenly given the wrong vaccine for her second dose of Covid-19 vaccination, Malaysiakini reported.
The woman was scheduled to receive her second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at a vaccination centre in Sik, Kedah on Aug. 5, but was given Sinovac instead.
According to the Kedah Health Director Dr Othman Warijo, the incident occurred after the nurse on duty failed to check the details on Melur's vaccination card.
The nurse has since apologised to Melur, and the latter is believed to have forgiven the nurse for her error.
How it happened
After receiving her first dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine on July 15, Melur was scheduled to receive her second dose of the vaccine on August 5 at the same vaccination centre as her first dose, her daughter Nur Jannah Ramli told Kosmo!.
It is believed that the nurse on duty did not check Melur's details on her vaccination card and provided her with the Sinovac vaccine instead of the Pfizer-BioNtech one.
According to Othman, another nurse realised the error after the incident took place and proceeded to alert the manager and supervisor of the vaccination centre, according to The Star.
Thereafter, the vaccine recipient was referred to a medical officer for counselling and given clarification on the possible side effects of the vaccine, Othman added.
"The nurse involved has admitted her mistake and has personally apologised to the recipient of the vaccine. She had also been reprimanded, given counselling and taken off duty that day," Othman added.
There were more than one type of vaccine being used at the vaccination centre on that day.
Othman further stated that additional measures have been implemented to prevent a recurrence, such as separating lanes for different vaccines, and giving out vaccine handling guidelines daily.
How it came to light
The incident first came to light when Melur's daughter, Nur Jannah Ramli posted about the incident on Facebook.
On August 8, Malaysian Deputy Health Minister Noor Azmi Ghazali expressed his concern about the incident and stressed that an investigation was underway even though no report was lodged , reported The Star.
After the investigation reflected the error of the nurse, the Kedah Health Department apologised to the vaccine recipient and her family over the incident on the following day (August 9), as per Malaysiakini.
Previous incidents
The incident comes after previous reports of "empty syringe" incidents have come to light.
There was more than one incident where recipients filmed themselves getting empty jabs or not being administered the vaccine properly.
The authorities have claimed that the incidents were a result of "human error", and the people affected will be given a "proper dose" of the vaccine, as per The Star.
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Top image via Mufid Majnun/Unsplash & Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images