2 elderly residents at Hong Kong care home given Covid-19 jabs expired for 2 weeks
Department of Health has temporarily banned doctor from government vaccination scheme after blunder at Luxe Garden residential care home in North district
The Department of Health instructed the care home and medical centre involved to step up checks, as well as vaccine management, while also temporarily banning the attending doctor involved from government vaccination schemes.
The incident came to light after a review by the department of the vaccine orders and vaccination records of the Luxe Garden residential care home in North district.
Preliminary investigations by the department found that healthcare workers from the medical organisation Health & Young visited the care home on December 18 and administered the Comirnaty XBB Covid-19 vaccine to the two residents.
“[The vaccines] were 12 days beyond the recommended use-by date,” a department spokesman said.
According to the vaccine manufacturer’s recommendation, the vaccine should be stored at between 2 degrees Celsius and 8 degrees (35.6 Fahrenheit and 46.4 Fahrenheit) after thawing, and should be used within 70 days.
The spokesman said the department was “highly concerned” about the incident and had immediately conducted an inspection at the care home.