A 23-year-old Italian woman received six doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine on Sunday, after a nurse at a hospital in Tuscany accidentally injected an entire vial.
Italian news agency AGI reported the incident on Monday, and USL Toscana Nord Ovest, a health network in Tuscany, acknowledged it in a press release.
Pfizer’s shot is supposed to come in two doses, administered three weeks apart.
The woman was in stable condition after receiving fluids and the pain reliever paracetamol, AGI reported.
According to Nigel William Crawford, director of SAEFVIC, the vaccine-safety service in Victoria, Australia, vaccine overdoses aren’t likely to cause serious adverse reactions.
Even five or six doses, he added, is “still a relatively small amount and not likely to be harmful”.
Side effects from the shot, though – such as fever or pain at the injection site – may be heightened, Crawford said.
