Hospital apologises after giving woman wrong second vaccine in first error of its kind in UK

Story from SWNS

A hospital has apologised after a woman was given the wrong vaccine when she went for her second jab - in the first error of its kind in the UK.

The woman received the Pfizer vaccine instead of the AstraZeneca version that she was supposed to have and was given first time around at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon.

The hospital said it was carrying out a review to ensure lessons are learned from the incident and it doesn't happen again.

Despite the mix-up the woman reportedly felt OK afterwards, but she and her husband, who want to remain anonymous, said they were still furious at the error.

They said when she booked her appointment at the hospital she made it clear she had already been given the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Her husband said: "I couldn’t believe it, it’s a huge error and very concerning.

“They told us this is the first time it’s happened - not just in Swindon but in the UK.”

The husband, who himself was going for his first jab at the same time, said: “The call handler asked her which vaccine she had last time so we assumed that would be written down and passed on to the medics.

“We split up into different rooms and when we came out, she told me what happened."

His wife said that at no point during the appointment did the healthcare staff ask to see the card given to her after her first vaccine although she put it face-up on the table in clear view.

He added: "Afterwards a doctor came out and said sorry and said we think you will be OK.

"It does not make sense, there should be a number of fail safes in place to ensure this does not happen. We couldn’t understand how or why this had occurred.”

A Great Western Hospital spokesman said: “We have offered our sincere apologies for giving her a different Covid-19 vaccine as her second dose.

“We have taken advice from the South West Clinical Advice and Response Service, an external service that provides vaccination centres with expert advice and guidance.

“It advised that both of the currently authorised vaccines in this situation are based on the spike protein and so the second dose will work as it should to boost the response to the first dose.

“For this reason, no further doses are required, and we do not anticipate any ill effects arising from this.

“We are reviewing the current pathways within our vaccination hub to learn from this incident and make sure similar incidents are avoided in the future.”