The CEO of Health Australia has resigned after one of the company s doctors gave two aged care residents four times the correct dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
A 94-year-old woman and an 88-year-old man were given too much of the Pfizer vaccine on Tuesday, the second day of Australia s vaccination rollout, at Holy Spirit aged care home in Carseldine, Brisbane.
Both were admitted to hospital for observation but have suffered no adverse effects.
The woman has been returned to the home while the man remains in hospital for an unrelated elective surgery.
The two elderly people given an incorrect dose of the Pfizer vaccine re residents at the Holy Spirit Nursing Home Carseldine in Brisbane (pictured)
The boss of an Australian contractor at the centre a Covid vaccine overdose bungle at a nursing home has stood down.
A 94-year-old woman and an 88-year-old man were given too much of the Pfizer vaccine on Tuesday, the second day of Australia s vaccination rollout, at Holy Spirit aged care home at Carseldine, Queensland.
Healthcare Australia, a company contracted by the federal government to give vaccines in aged care homes, was put on notice after an investigation found the doctor who administered the jab had not completed immunisation training.
The doctor has since been stood down from the vaccination program, and on Thursday afternoon was joined by Haelthcare Australia chief executive Jason Cartwrigth.
Here’s a look at major developments:
SOUTH KOREA
South Korea’s top infectious disease experts warned that vaccines will not bring the disease to a quick end and called for continued vigilance in social distancing and mask wearing as the country prepares to give its first shots on Friday.
Jeong Eun-kyeong, director of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, said Wednesday it would take a “considerably long time” before the mass vaccination campaign brings the virus under control.
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The country aims to vaccinate more than 70% of the population by November. But a safe return to a life without masks is highly unlikely this year, considering various factors including the growing spread of virus variants, said Choi Won Suk, an infectious disease professor at the Korea University Ansan Hospital.
A doctor who incorrectly gave two elderly people in a Queensland aged care home a "higher than the recommended dose" of the COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine, did not complete the required vaccination training, Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt says.
The first 37 people in Wellington have been vaccinated against Covid-19. Hunt also said his updated advice was that the doctor had not been involved in vaccine roll-out at any other facilities. “I have, again, reaffirmed my apologies to the family and. I have asked the department to take action against the company and the doctor for what is a clear breach, on both fronts,” he said. People are meant to get two doses of the Pfizer vaccine three weeks apart, but Hunt earlier today said he’s been advised the doctor in question administered both doses of the vaccine consecutively.