Two elderly Queenslanders have been injected with four times the recommended dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at an aged care home.
A man, 88, is in hospital as a precaution and a woman, 94, also received the extra dosage at Holy Spirit Carseldine.
The doctor has been stood down from Australia’s coronavirus vaccine rollout program after giving the two patients the incorrect dose.
Health Minister Greg Hunt announced the error in a press conference on Tuesday morning.
“Basically a doctor gave an incorrect dose to two patients yesterday,” he said.
Mr Hunt added he decided to address the issue upfront to show the government’s safeguards were working effectively.
“Indeed I’ve made the decision that we should address this upfront to show that the safeguards that were put in place did actually work,” he said.
“There was an initial error, there’s no getting around that, but a series of different actions, three safeguards immediately kicked into place.
“Firstly, the nurse on scene responded. Secondly, the company responded and thirdly, the health care agencies, the cooperation between the commonwealth and Queensland responded.”
