two people vaccinated with Pfizer receive a second dose of AstraZeneca

On Tuesday, two people from the Rochefort region received a second dose of AstraZeneca vaccine at WEX in Marche-en-Famenne when they had received a first dose of the Pfizer product. Thursday morning L’Avenir reported about twenty people concerned, but the error would ultimately affect only two people, according to the management of WEX.

These two people did not arrive at the right time

They would have arrived around 9 am when they had reserved a time slot at the end of the afternoon. “It’s a combination of circumstances“, explains Laurent Briou, director of WEX.”These two people did not arrive at the right time, they did not present their Pfizer vaccination card and entered the AstraZeneca vaccination line. The incident occurred on a day when the two vaccines were alternated.“The AstraZeneca product was administered in the morning and the Pfizer vaccine in the afternoon. The director of WEX recognizes a form of lightness in administrative control.”We should have been more rigorous. We have also tightened the procedures after this incident“.

The display has also been strengthened to better orient the public, according to Doctor Delrée of the vaccination center, who indicates that there is no harm to the people concerned, even if it is not excluded that they are again invited to receive a third dose.

On the side of those responsible for vaccination in Wallonia, we deplore this human error, especially since important safeguards have been put in place to avoid it (in particular the vaccination card and precise timetables). A vaccinologist was also contacted and was reassuring about the absence of risk of such a mixture of vaccines, according to the competent Walloon DG.

The University of Oxford (which collaborated with AstraZeneca for the development of the vaccine) has also launched a study on the interchangeability of different vaccines.