More than 8,500 people in Lower Saxony, Germany, have been asked to have another shot of the coronavirus vaccine after a nurse admitted to injecting some patients with saline solution instead.
District Administrator Sven Ambrosy, a member of the Social Democrats (SPD), claimed that around 8,557 people could have been affected after the incident in April and urged those at risk of having had the saline solution to book another appointment for inoculation. So far, 3,600 people have come forward.
The public prosecutor’s office has since placed the Red Cross nurse, who has been banned from the vaccine centre in Friesland, under investigation, Der Spiegel reports.
“According to witness statements and the clear risk assessment of the police, we cannot rule out that other people were vaccinated with saline during the service of the accused. Because of the silence of the accused, we cannot say with certainty how many people are really affected,” Ambrosy said
“This is what makes the matter so monstrous: potentially 8.7 per cent of the population in our district could be affected,” he added.
Ambrosy told the magazine that the nurse had admitted to a colleague she filled six syringes with saline after dropping a vaccine ampoule.
According to a report from Reuters, the Red Cross nurse is also believed to have shared some sceptical views about the coronavirus vaccines on social media. The news service added that the motive remains unclear, and it is not known if the nurse has been arrested or charged.
Saline solutions have been used in vaccine scams in recent months in both China and India. In February, Chinese authorities arrested 80 people for allegedly forming a network that falsely marketed saline as coronavirus vaccines.
In June, police in India stated that at least 2,000 people were injected with saline in Mumbai instead of the vaccine. Ten people, including two doctors, were later arrested at a private hospital.