Walgreens Administered Diluted COVID-19 Vaccine in Sanford

Employees of the Walgreens in Sanford administered a diluted COVID-19 vaccine, according to a chain spokesman.

"We recently learned we had some patients who received a COVID vaccine at our Sanford, Maine, location that was improperly diluted with sterile water for injection instead of the correct diluent, normal saline, used to prepare Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines," spokesman Fraser Engerman told Seacoast Current.

He said the chain is reaching out to the impacted patients and will administer a COVID-19 vaccination as soon as the these patients are available to return to the pharmacy for a corrected first or second dose within the appropriate time frame.

"We have safely administered millions of vaccine doses. We have taken immediate steps to review our detailed procedures with the location to prevent this from occurring again," Engerman said. "We have informed both the Maine Department of Health and the CDC."

Engerman would not disclose when the doses were administered, how many individuals received them or possible side effects. The state CDC and Department of Health on Saturday afternoon did not respond to Seacoast Current's request for more information.

NewsCenter Maine was the first to report this information.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNH