The healthcare worker is feeling well and wants to return to work, Maccabi said. It was an isolated incident, the HMO said.
Tests conducted by Pfizer, the maker of the vaccine, indicate there are no negative consequences of receiving up to five doses, except for side effects at the site of the injection, Maccabi said. The medical professional did not experience any side effects, apart from slight sensitivity at the site of the injection, it said.
The Health Ministry is investigating the incident and has released clearer guidelines for medical staff, stressing that “care must be taken throughout the process,” Channel 12 reported.
In general, people are supposed to receive one dose of the vaccine and then another dose 21 days later. The healthcare worker received an entire undiluted bottle of the vaccine in one shot.
“An error resulting from the splitting of the dilution process and the injection stage” took place, the Health Ministry said in a message to professional teams in the field. It recommended that one nurse perform both the dilution and injection.
“Do not prepare vaccine doses in advance,” the ministry said. “The vaccine dose should be prepared only after we have seen that the vaccine vial is diluted.”
The Health Ministry instructed medical staff to record the date and time of the dilution clearly and prominently with an indelible pen.
A diluted vaccine vial can be used for up to six hours at room temperature.
As of Sunday evening, some 10,000 medical professionals had been vaccinated and over 200,000 vaccination appointments had been made in HMOs around the country by medical staff and senior citizens, according to the Health Ministry.