This week served as another reminder of the complications of rolling out a mass vaccine program.
News that two elderly residents at a Brisbane aged care home were administered with four times the correct dosage of the COVID-19 vaccine came as a shock to many of us.
The story got more complicated when it was revealed that the doctor who had administered the dosages had not been correctly trained.
This is despite earlier advice that the doctor had undergone training.
The good news is the two patients, an 88-year-old man and a 94-year-old woman from the Holy Spirit Nursing Home in Carseldine in Brisbane, are so far showing, “no signs of an adverse reaction”.
The two are being monitored in hospital.
Where did it all go so wrong?
ABC reports Healthcare Australia, one of the health providers called in to help handle the vaccine rollout, had originally provided advice to the Department of Health which maintained the doctor in question had completed full training.
The incident was investigated by Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Michael Kidd, who discovered the doctor had not completed his compulsory vaccine training.
The doctor has been referred to the medical regulator.
It’s bad news for Healthcare Australia too, with the Department expected to take serious action against the company.
The company’s chief executive, Jason Cartwright, has been stood down, with chairman Daren McKennay stepping in while an internal investigation is conducted.
“We apologise unreservedly to the patients and their families involved for the distress this has caused and assure the community that the error was isolated and will not be repeated,” Mr McKennay said in a statement.
Perhaps complications were to be expected
To its credit, the Government is taking responsibility for the mistake.
Health and Aged Care Minister Greg Hunt made the unprecedented step of apologising in Parliament.
“I have asked the Department to take action against the company and the doctor for what is a clear breach on both fronts,” he said.
But it’s just another reminder that the vaccine rollout is by no means a simple process.
