A medical professional giving a vaccine shot.Photo: Getty
A nurse in Germany is suspected of injecting thousands of people with a plain saline solution instead of aCOVID-19 vaccine.
Officials in Friesland, Germany, say that a Red Cross nurse working at a vaccination site in the city back in March and April likely gave around 8,600 residents a fake shot.
A police investigation uncovered the swap, and while the residents were given a harmless injection of a salt solution, they were not protected against COVID-19 as they thought. And most of the people who got the vaccine at that time were elderly and in need of protection against the virus.
No charges have yet been filed against the nurse.
Officials are urging anyone who was vaccinated at the Friesland site during those months to get vaccinated again. Along with contacting people they suspect received the fake dose, they also set up a phone line for questions.
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The nurse, who officials did not name, was likely able to swap the vaccine vials because she was “responsible for the preparation of vaccines and the preparation of syringes during her working hours in the vaccination center,” health authorities in Lower Saxony, the region where Friesland is located, said,according to CNN.
Police found that the nurse was “motivated to oppose the vaccination,” and had shared skeptical views of vaccines on social media.
As of Aug. 9, about 55% of Germans are fully vaccinated and 62.5% have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, Chancellor Angela Merkel said,The New York Timesreported. She also announced new rules that require people to be vaccinated or have a recent negative test to go to a restaurant, salon or gym; and in October, the country will stop offering free COVID-19 tests to people who are unvaccinated.
“We now have enough of the vaccine,” Merkel said. “Now we have to promote vaccinations.”
source: people.com
