Forty-two people waiting to receive the COVID-19 vaccine received the antibody used to treat the infections, the West Virginia National Guard said Thursday.
The guard said the affected people arrived at a Boone County clinic to get the Modern vaccine, but were accidentally given the Regeneron antibody, according to Fox News.
Antibody recipients were not at risk of harm, according to medical experts from the Joint Interagency Task Force, which coordinates state vaccination efforts.
“The moment we were notified of what happened, we acted immediately to correct it and immediately reviewed and strengthened our protocols to improve our distribution process to prevent this from happening again,” he noted. General James Hoyer, deputy general of the West Virginia National Guard, said in a press release.
The errors, which came to light Wednesday, occurred at a clinic hosted by the Boone County Department of Health. According to the statement, all people who received the wrong injection were contacted.
President Donald Trump praised Regeneron for helping cure him of COVID-19 after he contracted the virus in November.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the emergency use of the experimental treatment, which consists of monoclonal antibodies or copies made of antibodies created by the human body to help fight infections.
“The products administered are antibodies that fight COVID-19,” Dr. Clay Marsh, the state’s COVID-19 Tsar, said in the statement. “While this injection is not harmful, it was replaced by the vaccine. But this occurrence offers our leadership team an important opportunity to review and improve the safety and vaccination process of every Western Virginia.”
The Guard said no other vaccine shipments were affected and the working group had reviewed and strengthened all vaccine-related protocols.
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