A 4-year-old was recently accidentally administered a COVID-19 vaccine when she was brought in to get a flu shot. According to one news article, the Maryland pharmacy error occurred when the 4-year-old girl went with her parents to a Walgreens pharmacy in Baltimore, Maryland. She was supposed to receive a flu shot but the pharmacist accidentally injected her with a dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine is not currently authorized for children younger than 12 years old and the vaccine for 5 to 11 year-olds, which is not yet authorized, only has about a third of the dosage given to the 4-year-old.
The girl’s parents did not know what to do and a nurse’s hotline and Poison Control “yielded few answers.” Researchers are still looking into the effects of COVID-19 vaccines on young children and toddlers, including at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. A representative from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration stated that vaccination providers are supposed to report vaccine administration errors to The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, managed by the federal government.
Although no adverse effects were reported in this case, the case illustrates that other, possibly more serious, errors can occur. Medical errors and vaccine errors occur all too frequently. In the event of a Maryland pharmacy error, victims may be able to recover financial compensation for their injuries, which may include medical bills, lost wages, and other financial losses, as well as emotional suffering. In a lawsuit against the parties responsible for the error, a victim would have to show that the defendant(s) owed a duty of care to the victim, the defendant(s) failed to meet the standard of care required in that situation by acting or failing to act in some way, the defendant(s)’s wrongful act caused the victim’s injury, and the victim suffered damages as a result.