He marked a “mistake”, a Walgreens pharmacy administered saline injections instead of COVID-19 vaccines in a mixture, the drug company confirmed.
A spokesman told local media that a “limited number” of people were affected by the bug, which took place at a store in Monroe, North Carolina.
Those affected were informed, Walgreens said, and offered a vaccine for when they can return.
“We are investigating what happened and we have taken immediate action to review our location procedures to prevent this from happening again,” the company said in a statement.
A woman who reported being among those affected said her experience took place on March 20, when she and her husband were to receive the Pfizer vaccine at a Fincher Street store.
The patient, Lisa Strawn, said she was told that a pharmacist forgot to mix the vaccine, resulting in only one injection of saline.
The error was discovered when they realized that at the end of the vaccination process, there were many vaccines left that should have been inoculated, according to the report of the day.
According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), saline injections can be used as a source of hydration and electrolytes. Patients with conditions such as congestive heart failure, liver or kidney disease should require special caution.
The FDA has reported the use of saline placebos in clinical trials for Covid-19 Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines.
Last week, Walgreens announced the launch of COVID-19 vaccines in most of its stores in 49 states, Washington, DC and Puerto Rico. The company said it had administered more than 11 million injections since April 12.
Walgreens was one of many companies that discontinued Johnson & Johnson vaccine after the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control Disease control and prevention (CDC) recommends a break in its administration.
The agencies announced an investigation into six cases of rare blood clots in patients receiving the vaccine. According to the CDC, all six cases were reported out of the 6.8 million doses of J&J vaccine given in the United States.