Minnesota vaccine recipients accidentally given Saline shot

SAUK CENTRE, Minn. (KEYC) - Some people in central Minnesota were told they actually got shots of Saline, instead of the COVID-19 vaccine they were expecting.

Centra Care Health says it happened to a small number of patients at a clinic in Sauk Centre. A shot of Saline isn’t harmful. Pharmacist Cory Middendorf says the vaccine normally has to be mixed with Saline before being administered and believes that’s how the mix-up happened.

“I think an easy way to avoid it is to just get rid of the Saline vial when you’re done with it. But if you have extras laying around or something like that, I could see why you might get it confused,” says Middendorf.

“Considering how many doses have been given in the state of Minnesota so far, and there’s two reported cases, I think that’s still pretty good,” says Middendorf.

The patients will have to be re-vaccinated. Centra Care says it’s taking steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again.