Kaiser Permanente is asking nearly 4,000 patients to return to one of their East Bay facilities in order to get an extra dose of the Pfizer vaccine after announcing they had administered the incorrect dosage last fall.
Between Oct. 25 and Dec. 10, 2021, 3,900 patients were supposed to receive the 0.30 milliliter Pfizer dose at Kaiser's Walnut Creek Medical Center. Instead, patients received 0.01 to 0.04 ml less, according to a statement provided to KCBS Radio by Kaiser Permanente.
"Once we became aware of this issue, we immediately consulted with experts in infectious diseases and vaccine science and reviewed guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)," the statement read. "All experts agreed the difference between the recommended dose and the dose an individual may have received was not significant and not likely to reduce their protection against COVID-19."
According to Dr. Dean Blumberg, a professor and infectious disease specialist at UC Davis Children’s Hospital, this is about a three to 12% decreased dosage.
"To put that into perspective, more than 95% of people respond to the vaccine with an excellent immune response," he told KCBS Radio in an interview. "So there's a lot of wiggle room built into these vaccine doses."
Even though the difference in percentage is relatively small, the healthcare provider’s transparency about the situation sets a precedent.
"It's unlikely to make a difference in terms of the strong protection that one expects after vaccination," he said.
Bay Area clinics have made this mistake before. In November last year, 14 kids aged 5-11 were given the wrong dose of Pfizer's vaccine at a Sutter Health pediatric clinic in Antioch, according to reporting by The Mercury News, and last March, 4,300 people were given only two thirds the recommended vaccine dose at an Oakland Coliseum vaccination site, according to reporting by KTVU.
In this most recent case, Kaiser is offering the affected patients a supplemental dose, even though the initial reduced dose likely didn't have a large impact on immunity.
"We immediately also began an investigation into the cause of this issue, and have determined this was an isolated incident resulting from some staff misunderstanding instructions and potentially drawing slightly less than the recommended vaccine dose," said the statement. "We took immediate steps to confirm that the issue was isolated and promptly retrained staff and validated their understanding of the correct procedure. We are continuously monitoring so this does not happen again."
"We sincerely apologize for any concern or inconvenience this may cause for those patients we are contacting," the statement said.
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