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8,557 people in Germany have been called to take extra shots of the Covid-19 vaccine, after a nurse is suspected of injecting saline into people's arms instead of the vaccine, as per The New York Times.

While saline solution is harmless, the majority of those affected are elderly people who are considered to have a higher risk of severe illness from contracting Covid-19, according to Reuters.

Police said that the nurse previously aired sceptical views about vaccines on social media, although a clear motive is yet to be established.

She had also shared posts criticising the government's pandemic-related restrictions on social media.

Nurse worked at inoculation centre

The incident occurred at the a vaccination centre in Friesland, a rural district in the northern part of Germany, where the nurse worked. She was responsible for preparing the vaccine syringes.

Authorities initially focused on the allegation that the nurse switched one vial of the vaccine, resulting in six doses being replaced with saline solution.

However, the police later said there is a chance she could have substituted more vials on other occasions, perhaps over a period of weeks.

They have called all the people who were jabbed during the nurse's working hours to return for new jabs as a precautionary measure.

Nurse yet to be charged

NYT said that officials have not said if she would be charged with a crime.

Meanwhile, German broadcaster NDR reported that the case has been handed over to a special unit that investigates politically-motivated crimes.

A lawyer representing the nurse told German media that she claimed to have switched just one vial.

Not the first anti-vax nurse

European governments have faced challenges in dealing with anti-vaccine activists.

In July, there was an anti-vaccine, anti-lockdown protest rally in central London, where people crowded into Trafalgar Square for the event. 

One of the speakers was a former nurse, Kate Shemirani, who first gained fame in 2020 by posting conspiracy theory videos on Youtube.

Speaking at the rally, she compared medical staff in England to Nazis, and say they should be tried and hanged. 

Her son Sebastian Shemirani describes his mother as "dangerous", and believes that she should be prosecuted by the law, he said in an interview with BBC Radio 4.

Top image via Daniel Schludi/Unsplash & Mufid Majnun/Unsplash

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