8,900 May Have Received Fake COVID-19 Vaccines, Injected With Saline Instead

Nearly 9,000 people in Germany may need to be vaccinated again after a nurse swapped out COVID-19 vaccines for a saline solution.

The German nurse is currently being investigated after she admitted to replacing doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for a saltwater solution to cover up dropping a vial.

Authorities believed the nurse administered saline instead of COVID-19 vaccine shots to six people at the German Red Cross vaccination center in April. However, police now believe that the nurse may have swapped out the vaccine shots on multiple occasions, Business Insider reported.

Local authorities are now calling for the 8,557 people vaccinated between March 5 and April 20 to get another shot to ensure that they are vaccinated against COVID-19. Those affected include people over 70-year-old who visited the Friesland vaccination center, as well as employees of hospices, mobile care services, educators, and doctors, according to the report.

People who were vaccinated during the time period are now being urged to schedule another appointment to receive a vaccine shot. It is unclear how many of the 8,557 people vaccinated were given saline shots. Authorities noted that the nurse has not been cooperative during the investigation.

"Since we do not know whether, how many and who is specifically affected, and we are talking about a period of seven weeks, we have offered everyone to carry out a repeat," Claudia Schröder, the deputy head of the Lower Saxony corona crisis team, told German public radio broadcaster NDR.

"A repeat vaccination is advisable even then and unproblematic if the vaccination was successful. That would not increase the protection in that case, but it is completely harmless. And so this is now the method of choice,” she said.

The nurse, aged 40, hadn’t been caught until Saturday when she confided in a colleague. She has since been suspended.

German authorities are now investigating the nurse’s motive. Investigators said she previously shared posts on her social media account that were critical of the vaccines.

Health officials have fully vaccinated 57.3% of the German population, according to a Reuters analysis.

Authorities in Germany have since imposed new coronavirus regulations, including abolishing free rapid testing to encourage more residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The unvaccinated are also expected to pay to undergo tests, which is required when attending indoor gatherings, restaurant visits, and church services, according to The Guardian.