henry told a news conference on monday that she expects the moderna vaccine will soon be approved for youth between 12 and 17, and in that case, the youth would receive moderna as their second dose as well.
“that does not excuse the fact that it should not have happened,” she said.
“the national advisory committee on immunization has looked at the interchangeability of the two mrna vaccines and supports that there’s no safety concerns or effectiveness concerns if you have a moderna and then a pfizer or vice versa,” henry added.
pfizer had been the only vaccine available at vancouver coastal health clinics for an extended period, until this past weekend, when moderna was the primary shot being offered, the health authority’s statement says.
“with both a new age cohort and a different vaccine on site, errors were made on may 28-29, in which immunizers used the moderna vaccine instead of the pfizer product for adolescents,” it says.
clinics will have dedicated staff and stations for the pfizer and moderna vaccines where feasible, it says, and new questions to identify youth under 18 have been added to the immunizer’s screening checklist.
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a dozen kids mistakenly given the wrong vaccine in vancouver