Six people injected with saline instead of COVID vaccine at Niagara clinic

An Ontario health unit is repeating COVID-19 vaccines for people who attended a clinic where some were injected with a saline solution instead of the shot.

Niagara Region Public Health says six people were injected with the harmless saline substance on June 16 at a clinic in Port Colborne, Ont.

The health unit says an end-of-day audit found six administered doses that had not been accounted for and that an additional vial of the saline diluent had been used.

It is now contacting 205 people who attended the clinic to book a repeat vaccination after an appropriate dosing interval, acknowledging that some will be getting a third shot.

It says getting a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine is safe, although it does not provide significant benefit.

The saline diluent is meant to be mixed with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine concentrate and while it is not harmful, it doesn't protect against COVID-19.

Public health says a review was conducted to investigate the error and new dose tracking and training protocols have been introduced to avoid similar situations.