Parents allege Walgreens mistakenly injected their children with COVID-19 vaccine instead of flu shot

Joshua and Alexandra Price say they and their two children were mistakenly given the Covid-19 vaccine instead of a flu shot a week ago at their local pharmacy — and they are now dealing with some adverse symptoms.

The Prices took their 4- and 5-year-olds to the Walgreens in Evansville, Indiana, on October 4 for their yearly shots. About 90 minutes later the pharmacist called saying they had made a mistake. The entire family had been injected with adult doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. “When they called us and told us that they had made a mistake and had given us the wrong shot, I was just in shock,” Alexandra Price said. “All I could say to them was, ‘What does this mean for my kids?’”

Although Alexandra and Joshua, already fully vaccinated since last April, were concerned for themselves, they were more worried about Sophia, 5 and Lukas, 4. “Lukas started feeling sick before we even got home from Walgreens,” Alexandra said. “He was feeling yucky, lethargic, and already had begun a fever,” Joshua added.

After requesting that Walgreens give them proof of vaccination so that the family could show medical professionals what they were given in the case of an emergency, the Prices say Walgreens hesitated. “They wanted to get their legal department involved and did not want to give us those cards, so we got our own attorney,” Alexandra said.

Joshua explained that the cards were important proof for the doctors if the children continued to get sick. He said Walgreens gave them their cards the next day. Walgreens’ spokesperson Kris Lathan released a statement to CNN saying tht due to privacy laws, it could not comment on a specific event.

“Generally speaking, know that such instances are rare and Walgreens takes these matters very seriously,” the statement said. “In the event of any error, our first concern is always our patients’ well-being. Our multi-step vaccination procedure includes several safety checks to minimize the chance of human error and we have reviewed this process with our pharmacy staff in order to prevent such occurrences” [CNN].