Eighty-eight people in Pingtung County’s Donggang Township (東港) were yesterday inoculated with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, instead of the Modern vaccine, for which they had reservations.
The county government has temporarily halted vaccinations at An Tai Hospital, where the incident occurred, Pingtung County Government officials told a news conference in the afternoon.
Pingtung Bureau of Health Director Shih Cheng-kuei (施承貴) said that people aged 64 to 69 were supposed to receive their second dose of the Moderna vaccine from Monday until yesterday.
Photo: Lo Hsin-chen, Taipei Times
At noon yesterday, the hospital discovered that 38 of the vials used during that period had AstraZeneca labels, instead of Moderna, Shih said.
The Pingtung Doctors’ Union and the bureau immediately launched investigations into the incident, he said.
Pingtung County Commissioner Pan Meng-an (潘孟安) has instructed the county government to trace those who received the wrong shots and begin monitoring their health immediately, he added.
An Tai Hospital superintendent Huang Ping-sheng (黃炳生) issued a public apology.
Huang said that a mistake had been made when planning vaccinations at the hospital or when it went to collect the vials.
The staff who administered the vaccines should also have checked the labels beforehand, Huang added.
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