Complexity of COVID-19 vaccine program leads to concerns about potential for error: STAT

NEW YORK, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination program in the United States has reached new heights of complexity with the start of the bivalent booster program, leading to concerns about the potential for more errors in the administration of vaccines, reported news portal STAT on Wednesday.

Even before the addition of the new booster shots, more than 5,300 errors in vaccine dose delivery in children alone were reported, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

"Those errors included giving the wrong dose or the wrong product for a recipient's age, using undiluted vaccine when dilution was called for, or administering vaccine that was past its expiration date," said the report.

The CDC says there's no evidence so far that these administration errors have triggered more severe adverse events than are normally reported in children who have been given the correct doses of these products.

However, "everyone involved in this effort understands that vaccine administration errors undermine the confidence of the people delivering vaccine, the people who received the wrong dose and, if those people are children, their parents," added the report.