An Indiana family said their children — four and five years old — were accidentally given adult COVID vaccines instead of a flu shot at Walgreens. The COVID vaccination has not been approved for children younger than 12. While Pfizer is attempting to have its vaccine approved for children 5-11, the dosage would be one-third an adult dose.
The company hasn’t sought permission to vaccinate those four and younger.
According to reports, the family visited a Walgreens in Evansville. They said about 90 minutes after leaving an employee called to let them know about the mistake.
The family’s attorney shared what he said are vaccination cards given to the family by Walgreens. The same report states the children were taken to a pediatric cardiologist and both children are showing signs of heart issues.
“[The cardiologist] said our daughter was having higher blood pressure than she would like,” said one of the parents. “And (our son) was having tachycardia…”
As of Monday, the younger child has been sick with a fever and cough. The family also says the older child has developed a fever.
14 News reached out to Walgreens, but the company said it could not comment on specific patient events due to privacy laws.
As of Monday evening, WFIE reports no lawsuit had been filed.
According to USA Today, a similar incident happened in Baltimore last month when a couple and their 4-year-old daughter went to Walgreens for flu shots and the girl was mistakenly injected with the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID vaccine instead.
