A vaccination centre in Poland is suspected of having reused syringes to administer COVID-19 vaccines, following an order sent by the centre’s director on a busy weekend. The facility, however, argues that the order did not come into force as new syringes were quickly delivered.
On 28 March, the crowded vaccine site in the city of Rzeszów ran short of syringes but had plenty of needles. According to correspondence seen by Wirtualna Polska, a news website, the centre’s head, Stanisław Mazur, instructed employees to reuse disposable syringes with new needles for COVID-19 vaccines.
However, following the delivery of new syringes, the order was reversed. Mazur then told Wirtualna Polska that the situation had been “an emergency” and “the order did not come into force”.
Yet uncertainty remains over whether any people had already received the vaccine with used syringes as the centre has not disclosed such information. Moreover, medical experts have questioned both the safety and the legality of the practice.
“This is a violation of basic safety rules,” Paweł Grzesiowski, the Supreme Medical Council’s COVID-19 expert, told Wirtualna Polska. “The situation can be explained only when saving a life directly. Double use of a syringe is a violation of the law, a violation of the manufacturer’s instructions. Even just prompting someone to do so is also unacceptable, because it is encouragement to act against the law.”
The head of the centre had also told his employees that aspiration (a medical procedure of checking whether a vaccine needle has not entered a blood vessel) was not necessary when using certain needles. He said that the COVID-19 vaccine – which is administered into muscle tissue – should not cause harm even if entered into the bloodstream.
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Vaccines at the medical centre in Rzeszów had already attracted press attention over the Easter weekend as rumours spread that the centre had been vaccinating people without registration and outside Poland’s national vaccination schedule.
The facility had announced that it “does not require registration” and would be offering jabs to those aged 55 years and above, despite registration of this age group not yet having officially started in Poland. On Friday and Saturday crowds built up and a total of 4,080 people received vaccines at the centre, reports Gazeta Wyborcza.
On Tuesday, the acting head of the National Health Fund (NFZ), which finances Poland’s public health service, announced that an investigation would be conducted into whether unauthorised vaccines were administered.
Opposition politicians accused the ruling party of accelerating vaccines in Rzeszów ahead of a by-election to choose a new mayor on 9 May. This has, however, been denied by government officials.
Following a recent slowdown in the vaccination rate, the government is now seeking to accelerate the rollout. Poland has administered just over 7 million coronavirus vaccines, including to over 2 million people who have received a second dose.
The government said it will authorise more professions to administer the jabs in the second half of April, as well as open new vaccine points in May and allow workplaces to organise vaccine drives in June. There will also be a pilot programme of drive-through vaccination points starting on 15 April.
On Thursday, Poland reported its highest ever daily number of deaths related to COVID-19. The figure, 954, surpassed the previous record of 674 set on 25 November at the height of the second wave. However, the health ministry noted that some of the deaths resulted from delays in reporting over the Easter weekend.
Main image credit: v-3-5-N-a /Pixabay (under Pixabay License)
Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.
