A mix-up led this man to get a vaccine combo pack.
While getting his second COVID-19 vaccine dose on Tuesday, a New Hampshire man accidentally received the Pfizer jab, despite his first dose having been from Moderna. Despite the unfortunate mishap, officials say he’ll be just fine, with no further shots needed for now.
“He said, ‘You ready for a poke?’ I said, ‘Sure,’ and he poked me,” New Hampshire resident Craig Richards told Manchester’s WMUR News 9 of the experience returning for his second vaccine dose this week at the same location where he’d gotten his first. “As soon as he poked me, he looked down at my card, and I think he realized he just gave me the Pfizer.”
Richards then pointed out the error.
“I looked at him and said, ‘You did not just give me the wrong shot.’ And he bolted!” Richards said. While the man may have panicked in response to realizing his mistake, Richards believes he also may have just been reacting to getting the stink eye.
“I don’t know if I had a real angry face on,” he said.
Shortly thereafter, the man’s supervisor approached Richards to discuss what had happened and to reassure him that, despite the error, all would be well.
“ ‘You’re going to be fine. The good news is, you are fully vaccinated,’ ” Richards said the supervisor told him. Still, he remained upset and concerned.
“I’m just, like, ‘This isn’t happening,’ ” he said of his response.
While medical experts reached by News 9 declined to comment on the situation due to the lack of data regarding mixing vaccine brands, New Hampshire’s Department of Health and Human Services released a statement late Wednesday offering further reassurance. Mixing brands, while possibly not ideal or as effective as receiving two shots from either Moderna or Pfizer, is a safe alternative in an emergency situation, the department explained.
“A mixed series is safe, as (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidance recommends mixing the series if the brand from the first dose is not available at the second dose,” their statement said. “While there have not been any clinical studies on whether a mixed series is as effective as a complete series, it will still provide enough protection that a third dose is not necessary or recommended.”
CDC guidelines, available at the organization’s site, note: “The safety and efficacy of a mixed-product series have not been evaluated. Both doses of the series should be completed with the same product.” However, the CDC further instructs, “If two doses of different mRNA COVID-19 vaccine products are administered in these situations (or inadvertently), no additional doses of either product are recommended at this time.”
Richards says the ordeal has left him anxious for more information, even though he feels physically fine.
“With everything going on with Johnson & Johnson being pulled, you go home and you’re uneasy about the whole thing,” he said. “They screwed up. Something is wrong over there.”