A “human error” is believed to be the cause of a regrettable incident in which an 8-year-old child received a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
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Even though children under the age of 18 cannot be inoculated, the father says he managed to make an appointment for his son at a clinic in Dallas, Texas, reports NBC News.
According to Grand Prairie Department fire chief Robert Fite, around 3,800 people were vaccinated at the site on the same day as the child.
“If they’re given a QR code, we’re assuming people understand who can and who can’t check in,” says Fite.
However, it seems that the father did not understand that his son was not entitled to the vaccine, says NBC.
According to the Dr Marcial Oquendo, a pediatrician, the man thought his son could be vaccinated since he had secured an appointment.
It was only after talking to Dr Oquendo that the father realized he had made a mistake.
“We have no data, especially for children under 12, to say if the vaccination works, if it is safe, how much should be given and which child can or cannot receive a dose”, explains the doctor, which specifies that vaccination in children should be carried out in a controlled environment during clinical trials.
However, Robert Fite said he wanted to find the paramedic who administered the dose to the child to understand the circumstances surrounding this error.
«[Les patients] are in the car, they have a code. He did what he did for the thousands of others who showed up that day and vaccinated him without realizing the child was under 18.
Mr. Fite also intends to get responses from Dallas County Public Health, which is responsible for operations. He wondered in particular how it was possible that the child could be registered.
Currently, vaccines approved in the United States cannot be given to people 18 years of age and younger.
However, Pfizer and Moderna have undertaken clinical trials to test the effectiveness of their vaccine in young people.
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