A Virginia vaccine clinic gave patients what they thought were COVID-19 shots wrong, but they were actually empty syringes.
The mishap occurred when a worker mistakenly assumed that another colleague filled the syringes before scheduling Monday at a Kroger clinic in Midlothian, the WRIC news station reported.
“Less than 10” people received a blank shot in place of the vaccine, a Kroger spokesman said.
The grocery chain, which managed more than 830.00 photos across the country, apologized for the mistake.
“We apologize for this oversight and for the inconvenience caused to these customers,” the company said in a statement.
Each of the patients who received one of the empty blows was announced.
“All affected customers have been contacted and have now received the COVID-19 vaccine,” Kroger said.
Carrie Hawes, who was one of the patients, said she was shocked to receive the call on Tuesday, notifying him that she had not received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
“My initial reaction was shock and surprise and a little anxiety,” she told WWBT.
She said they were more careful when she went to the second meeting.
“They were very clear to me when I came in,” she said. “They showed us the bottle to make sure they were Johnson & Johnson, they took out the vaccine, he showed it to me again.”
Kroger said they retrained their clinic workers and contacted local health officials.
“We are working closely with the Virginia Department of Health on this,” the company said.