Nurse in Germany suspected of swapping COVID vaccine with saline solution
A woman receives her second vaccination with the Biontech/Pfizer vaccine in Hamburg, Germany. Photo: Christian Charisius/picture alliance via Getty Images
Thousands in Germany are set to be revaccinated after it was discovered that a nurse had injected patients with a saline solution in place of a COVID vaccine, the Washington Post reports.
Why it matters: The nurse, who has not been identified, admitted to injecting a few patients with saline but antibody testing showed a much wider group of people may have been impacted. About 8,600 people may have received the salt solution instead of the genuine vaccine, leaving them at risk.
- A lawyer representing the nurse told the German news service DPA that she had switched a single vial, per the New York Times.
The big picture: Many of the people who got vaccinated when the suspected switch took place were elderly people at high risk of catching the virus, per Reuters.
- The nurse had previously shared vaccine-skeptical posts on social media, per the Post.
What they're saying: "I am totally shocked by this episode," Sven Ambrosy, a local councilor, said on Tuesday, per Reuters.