A medical station in Hanoi has made a serious mistake by administering COVID-19 vaccine doses to 18 children under seven months old, the municipal Department of Health confirmed on Friday morning.

The incident took place at the medical station in Yen Son Commune, Quoc Oai District on Wednesday.

Health workers at the medical station were scheduled to carry out a routine vaccination program for children between two and six months old.

However, they ended up mistakenly administering the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to 18 babies.

As the case was discovered on Thursday, all of these infants were admitted to Saint Paul General Hospital for a check-up and monitoring.

The children are now in stable health conditions, but some of them suffer a fever and swelling at the injection site.

The Hanoi health department did not mention the reason behind this serious mistake.

Authorities in Quoc Oai District have suspended multiple health workers at the medical station over their error.

In a document released on Friday morning, Luong Ngoc Khue, an official from the Ministry of Health, requested the Hanoi health department to identify the reason behind the incident and impose suitable penalties on the individuals and organizations responsible.

The Vietnamese health ministry has only issued guidelines on COVID-19 vaccination for children aged 12 to 17.

In 2013, a similar incident happened when health workers in the north-central province of Quang Tri gave the wrong vaccine to local children, which led to the deaths of three infants.

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