En Chu Kong Hospital in New Taipei City, which yesterday apologized for having inadvertently administered undiluted doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to 25 people, has been suspended from administering vaccines for one week.
Hospital superintendent Wu Chih-hsiung (吳志雄) and other administrative officials held a news conference yesterday morning to explain the incident and apologize to the public.
The incident occurred on Monday when hospital personnel were administering Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines at its vaccination station at Yong Fu Temple (永福宮) in Yingge District (鶯歌), hospital deputy superintendent Wang Chung-cheng (王炯珵) said.
Photo courtesy of En Chu Kong Hospital
At the vaccination station, there were 25 Pfizer-BioNTech vials without packaging and some without caps, so the hospital personnel mistakenly thought that they had been diluted and were ready for injection, he said.
The undiluted vaccine solution was inadvertently injected into the first 25 recipients, Wang said.
The hospital immediately informed them after personnel discovered the mistake at noon, when tracking the number of doses administered.
The fact sheet for those administering the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine says that a multiple-dose vial contains 0.45ml of the vaccine.
Before being administered, each vial must be thawed and injected with sterile, nonpyrogenic, distilled water after the addition of 1.8ml of 0.9 percent sodium chloride, it says, adding that each vial contains six 0.3ml doses.
The incident involved 11 men and 14 women aged 18 to 65, but none has so far experienced an adverse reaction, even though one of them had a medical history of heart disease, Wang said.
Of the 25 people involved, 11 agreed to an examination before returning home, nine agreed to being hospitalized for observation, and five refused intervention and returned home, Wu said.
The hospital formed an emergency response team, which is to provide examinations and follow-up care, including daily follow-ups by telephone and weekly outpatient checkups for at least one month, he added.
The incident occurred because a mistake was made during the shift handover, so the hospital would review its procedures and ensure that they are carefully implemented, he said.
The hospital had submitted a report on the incident, New Taipei City Department of Health Director Chen Jun-chiu (陳潤秋) said, adding that the department had asked the hospital to monitor the health of the 25 people and to give them follow-up care.
“Due to the incident, the health department has suspended En Chu Kong Hospital’s COVID-19 vaccination operations for one week, effective immediately,” she said. “The department has also gathered specialists to form a task force to look into the case.”
The hospital was asked to improve its training and procedures, or it could have its vaccination contract terminated, Chen said.
Separately, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the Central Epidemic Command Center’s spokesman, said that reports in other countries showed that people who received excessive doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine mostly had pain or swelling at the injection site, but no serious adverse reactions.
Asked whether the 25 people might have a higher risk of myocarditis and whether they would need a second dose, Chuang said that myocarditis following vaccination more often occurs after a second dose, and typically more than seven days after getting vaccinated.
The center would consult with specialists regarding a second dose for the 25 people, he added.
Yesterday, the center said that to reduce errors, personnel should remember “three checks” and “five rights” when preparing to administer Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to people.
The “three checks” are checking the label when retrieving a vial from storage, checking the vial after preparation but before administration, and checking the vial when it is returned to storage.
The “five rights” are verifying that personnel have the “right patient, the right drug, the right dose, the right route and the right time.”
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book