A 23-year-old woman in Italy recently found out what it’s like to overdose on the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
Luckily, the woman experienced no severe side effects after a nurse accidentally gave her six doses of the vaccine at once.
Typically, six doses of the vaccine are packaged into a single vial and then extracted individually and diluted in a separate vial. According to the hospital, there is little difference in the color or density between a diluted dose and six undiluted doses, which partially explains why the nurse accidentally confused the two and administered a vial of six full doses.
The patient, who was shaken up by the experience, was kept under hospital observation for 24 hours before being released in good condition.
Apparently, similar mix-ups have happened in Germany and Israel where patients have been given five times the normal dose amount. But so far, no serious consequences have been reported in connection with the incidents.
