Pharmacist Accidentally Receives 4 Doses Of Coronavirus Vaccine

A healthcare worker in Israel was accidentally injected with four doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday but said he feels fine after the incident.

Maccabi Healthcare Services pharmacist Uday Azizi opened up about the incident in an interview with local outlet Channel 12 News and his reaction upon finding out he got three extra doses of the vaccine, The Times of Israel reported.

He revealed officials at Maccabi informed him about the blunder after he was sent to the hospital for examination and monitoring hours following his vaccination, but he was unfazed.

The healthcare worker who gave him the injection reportedly was not aware that a vial of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine contains several doses. The vial usually has enough for five injections, but they sometimes contain more, the report noted.

Despite receiving four doses at once, Azizi said he has experienced only mild, common side effects so far. These included pain and redness at the injection site.

“I have no problem with again getting four doses,” he said. “Let’s be optimistic… about the vaccine, the entire situation, and the new year maybe.”

The pharmacist added that it is likely that he would still need to get a second dose of the vaccine in three weeks and encouraged others not to be afraid of the inoculation.

The national vaccine program in Israel began on Sunday, with health workers being first in line. Starting Monday, citizens aged 60 and up have also begun getting vaccinated.

As for the general public, the government has yet to announce when the vaccine will be available.

Israel continues to see a rise in daily infections, Times of Israel noted. On Tuesday, the country's Health Ministry confirmed that 3,594 new cases of COVID-19 had been diagnosed the previous day, the highest total in months. This has reportedly led to discussions of a third national lockdown.

Since the start of the pandemic, Israel has recorded 380,095 cases and 3,111 deaths due to the coronavirus.

Another concern that recently made headlines is the mutated strain of the virus that is currently spreading in the U.K. This coronavirus strain is said to be more contagious, although scientists say there's no evidence the new variant is more deadly or resistant to COVID-19 vaccines.

"There is a new variant, and there's question of whether or not it's become the predominant strain in London because of what we call founders' effect — it just got into London and got into some early super spreading events — or whether or not it's the result of what we call selective pressure, it's being selected for because it has qualities that make it more likely to spread," Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said in an interview on CBS' "Face the Nation." "Increasingly, it does seem to be the latter. It seems like this new strain is more contagious."