Indiana parents say children having adverse reactions after mistaken adult dose of COVID-19 vaccine

Parents from Indiana say their two children are suffering adverse reactions after they were mistakenly given an adult dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Walgreens.

Joshua and Alexandra Price took their four-year-old son and five-year-old daughter to Walgreens for the flu shot a week ago, but the children and parents were all mistakenly given the Pfizer 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, CNN reported. “All I could say to them was, ‘What does this mean for my kids?’ “

The parents say that their children, Sophia and Lukas, are experiencing side effects from the vaccine, which is only approved for ages 12 and older. 

“The children have experienced a number of adverse effects since receiving the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Fever, body aches, cough, headaches, and nausea are among the symptoms the children are experiencing,” Prices’ attorney, Dan Tuley, said in a statement.

“The 4- and 5-year-old are also under treatment of a pediatric cardiologist for tachycardia and elevated blood pressure, respectively,” he added. 

For the parents, Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN the COVID-19 shot would essentially be a booster shot since the parents were already vaccinated back in April.

Joshua said Lukas started to feel sick even before the family left the store that day, according to CNN.

“They will probably do OK,” Hotez said. “The difference is they got a three times higher dose of a vaccine than is being tested [for children] in clinical trials.

“It is concerning they got a higher dose, and they have to be monitored, but they should do really well,” Hotez added. “There is a lot of data out there now in 5-year-olds and older.”

An appointment Tuesday showed Lukas was doing better, but Sophia’s blood pressure “is in the 98th percentile and she continues to have no energy,” Alexandra told the news outlet.

Alexandra and Joshua also experienced symptoms such as high blood pressure, headaches, fever and chest pains from receiving their third, unplanned dose. 

The couple also said Walgreens hesitated to give the family vaccine cards after the incident, saying they would have to discuss it with their legal team. Joshua said they wanted the cards as proof for doctors for future appointments. 

“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, with the company giving them the cards the next day. 

“Generally speaking, know that such instances are rare and Walgreens takes these matters very seriously,” a Walgreens 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.”

The Hill has reached out to the Prices’ attorney, Walgreens and Pfizer for comment. 

Updated Friday at 7:50 a.m.