Here's How A 12-Year-Old Was Mistakenly Given Empty Jab Of COVID-19 Vaccine At UM PPV
Confirming the incident, which took place on 30 September and was recorded on video, the Ministry of Health (MOH) today stated that the teenager was immediately given a new dose after the health worker realised her mistake.
By Sadho Ram — 02 Oct 2021, 04:15 PM
A video uploaded on Facebook shows an incident that took place at the Universiti Malaya (UM) vaccination centre (PPV), where a 12-year-old was administered an allegedly empty shot of the COVID-19 vaccine
The one-minute video, which was uploaded yesterday, 1 October, has been widely circulated on the platform. At the time of writing, it has close to 300,000 views and has received over 22,000 shares.
It also reportedly prompted concern among parents. The comment section is filled with mostly angry reactions and a number of them also accusing the health worker of playing tricks.
In the video, the health worker is seen observing the necessary procedures.
She makes sure to show the vaccine vial, the syringe, and that the right amount of vaccine was taken out from the bottle into the syringe to the teenager's mother, the viral video shows.
So what happened?
Confirming the incident in a statement today, 2 October, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has provided an explanation as to what happened following the pre-jab procedures taken by the health worker.
The health worker had made an honest mistake when she picked up a similar-looking syringe that was empty and not yet had been used, instead of the syringe that she had just filled with the vaccine.
The mistake is also visible in the video.
"This happened as she briefly placed the filled syringe on the table to perform the disinfection process on the teenager's arm before giving the injection. However, she mistakenly took the empty syringe and injected the teenager," the statement quoted Deputy Health Minister Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali as saying.
The empty syringe can be visible during the start of the video when the health worker is seen filling a syringe with the vaccine.
Image via FacebookFollowing which, the teenager informed his parents that there may have been an issue with the dose. They then alerted the health worker.
The health worker, also realising her mistake, then informed the on-duty medical officer at the PPV.
"The two of them immediately had a discussion with the teenager's parents and after explaining, the teenager's parents permitted the vaccine to be given on a different arm, under the low doses procedure (Prosedur Dos Kurang), which is a clinical guideline that recommends administration of the vaccine in the opposite arm if the first dose is deemed insufficient and a re-dose is required," Noor Azmi said.
He added that that the concerned health worker has been warned to be more careful.
Meanwhile, MOH also said that the COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force-Adolescent (CITF-A) deeply regrets the incident
"CITF-A deeply regrets this incident and would like to apologise to the parents and the teenager. This incident is described as an on-duty mistake or human error," the statement read.
It added that the internal procedure has also been improved by ensuring that no other syringes are on the same table when giving the injection. This is to prevent the same incident from happening again.
Remember to limit your movement and keep practising physical distancing. Find out the latest COVID-19 updates on the Ministry of Health's COVIDNOW website.
