By KAI ICHINO/ Staff Writer
November 4, 2021 at 19:19 JST
A health care worker fills a syringe with a COVID-19 vaccine. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
A total of 1,805 errors were made in the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines up to Sept. 30, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare revealed, citing reports from municipalities.
About 164 million injections were administered in total, which means an error occurred in 1.1 of every 100,000 jabs.
The errors include 170 cases where people were put at risk of blood-borne infections, including instances where the used needles were injected into other people.
The most common error was the wrong interval between doses--either too long, or not long enough, between getting the first and second jabs. There were 526 such incidences recorded.
The health ministry also reported 246 “unnecessary” shots were given to individuals. This includes cases where third doses, or booster shots, were given, despite that the government has yet to begin a rollout of boosters.
The figure also includes instances where syringes not containing COVID-19 vaccines were inserted into people’s arms. In 61 cases, people younger than the targeted age group received doses.
The ministry added that health care workers administered 74 doses to people who showed up for a different vaccine altogether, such as the one for influenza. The government instructed municipalities to take steps to prevent these cases from happening again, which is especially important now as they prepare for flu season.
Officials suggested that both the medical staff and the vaccine recipients verbally state the name of the vaccine before it is injected to ensure the correct vaccine is administered.
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