French parents sue authorities over mistakenly vaccinated daughter
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A French hospital mistakenly gave a 10-year-old girl the Moderna vaccine jab that is restricted for children between five and 12, leading the parents of the child to file a complaint.
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France does not allow children to receive the Moderna vaccine over a potential risk of heart muscle inflammation.
The parents of a 10-year-old girl in France are suing the authorities after their daughter received a Moderna COVID vaccine only allowed for adults over feared side effects, officials announced Wednesday.
The ARS regional health service justified that the girl was mistakenly administered the Moderna shot on December 22 at the vaccination center in Avranches, a town along the Channel coast.
"Health professionals at the center realized the mistake immediately, and the doctor in charge consulted with the family," the ARS said in a statement, noting that "the child is doing well."
Potential risk
France and several other countries are not letting children receive the Moderna vaccine over a potential risk of inflammation of the heart muscle.
The side effect has been detected in adolescents and young adults, especially males, prompting officials to reserve the Pfizer/BioNTech jab for children aged five to 12.
The ARS pointed out that the doctor explained to the parents how to recognize any symptoms of heart inflammation, which is "reversible and not serious."
Joanny Allombert, director of the Avranches hospital, told France Bleu radio that "the girl was asked to sit in the wrong place because there was no more room where she should have been."
Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines rely on messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) technology, a cutting-edge process that introduces a "blueprint" of the coronavirus spike protein into the body, which can then recognize it and fight it in case of infection.
It is noteworthy that Moderna, which has filed for approval of its vaccine for young children with the European Medicines Agency, announced in October that clinical trials had shown positive results.
