Exclusive: Family talks to 14 News about claims of vaccine mistake at Walgreens

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Published: Oct. 8, 2021 at 1:31 PM CDT
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EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - An Evansville family and their attorney says they were accidentally given full adult doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine instead of flu shots.

Alexandra and Joshua Price says it happened October 4, at the Walgreens on St. Joseph Avenue.

Their family of four includes two adults and two children who are just five and four years old.

The Pfizer vaccine isn’t approved for children that young. They are seeking approval for children ages five to 11, but the dosage would be one third that of the adult dose. Pfizer has not asked permission to vaccinate children age four or younger.

The family’s attorney, Daniel Tuley, shared with us what he says are the vaccination cards given to the family by Walgreens.

They show children born in 2016 and 2017 were given a Pfizer coronavirus vaccine.

Parents' vaccine cards
Parents' vaccine cards(Daniel Tuley)
Children's vaccine cards
Children's vaccine cards(Daniel Tuley)

The family says they left the pharmacy thinking they had received their flu shots, but a Walgreens employee later called them and said they had made a mistake.

“Walgreens called me to say there was a mix up, we did not receive the flu shot,” said Alexandra. “And I’m like well what did we get? And he was like we got the Covid19 shot, And instantly I was like, well what does this mean for my kids...?”

The attorney tells us the vaccine cards were then issued since the coronavirus vaccine had been given.

Tuley says the children have been taken to a pediatric cardiologist, and the family was told both are showing signs of heart issues.

“[The cardiologist] said our daughter was having higher blood pressure than she would like,” said Alexandra. “And Lucas, our son was having tachycardia...”

As of Monday, the family says the younger child has been sick with a fever and a cough. Since last week, the family now says the older child has developed a fever.

The family says both children have follow up appointments with their doctor this week.

We reached out to Walgreens on Thursday, Friday, and Monday.

On Monday, they sent us the following statement:

“Due to privacy laws, we cannot comment on specific patient events. However, in general, such instances are rare and Walgreens takes these matters very seriously. 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.”

Last year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services used emergency powers due to the pandemic. The directive allows pharmacists in all 50 states to give vaccines, like flu shots, to children three and older.

The move was designed to help prevent vaccination rates from falling.

It’s important to note that no lawsuit has been filed as of Monday evening.

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