Ombudsman's Office launches investigation against Minsa for alleged extra application of fourth dose of Moderna

The Office of the Ombudsman opened an ex officio investigation against the Ministry of Health ( Minsa) for allegedly placing older adult patients and medical personnel more than the amount established in the fourth doses of the Moderna vaccine against COVID-19, reported the autonomous constitutional body on its official Twitter account, where they say that they must find those responsible immediately.

“We have initiated an ex officio investigation into the application of a presumably higher than allowed booster dose of Moderna's #COVID_19 vaccine . Facts must be clarified quickly and responsibility determined, if any,” he published.

They also asked Minsa to expand the statement, as they considered it “insufficient” and must use a clear communication strategy “so as not to generate mistrust of immunization against COVID-19.

“We demand that @Minsa_Peru extend yesterday's communiqué because it is insufficient. It should be clarified whether the “booster dose” (fourth dose) was applied as directed by the laboratory and the recommendations of the @opsoms in this regard,” he added.

“In addition, we demand to establish a clear communication strategy in response to the complaint, so as not to affect or create mistrust of the immunization process against #COVID_19 . We remember that vaccines are safe, effective, and key to ending the pandemic,” he concluded.

MISPLACED DOSES

When the fourth dose of the vaccine was misplaced, this resulted in more intense adverse effects in the inoculated patients. Among the complaints, it is reported that health personnel suffered from headache, diarrhea, vomiting, myalgia, arthralgia and general malaise.

“I am a doctor, I was vaccinated this Wednesday, April 20 with 0.5 mL (100 ug) of Spikevax (Moderna), the next day, in addition to fever, diarrhea, nausea, headache, I did hypertensive crisis (Blood Pressure 180/110 mmHg),” a galena indicated on social networks.

According to specialists, in the fourth dose, Minsa had to administer 50 micrograms of the product, however, twice as much (100 micrograms) was used when placing the booster with the Moderna company vaccine.

After realizing the error, Raúl Urquizo, dean of the Medical College of Peru, met with the expert committee to evaluate what happened and take preventive measures, since the Ministry of Health, as the specialist told El Comercio, did not communicate with the committee before the implementation of this reinforcement.

“On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the vaccination of the fourth dose was carried out at the Medical College. On Thursday we began to see some slightly more noticeable adverse effects in those vaccinated. We started looking for information and realized that the dose was not what we thought they were applying to us, it was twice as much,” said Urquizo.

Minsa was not far behind, so it came out in a statement and alleged that at no time have doses greater than 100 micrograms been placed and that they have worked “on the basis of the recommendations of the Immunization expert committee”, so the fourth dose will be 50 micrograms.

Finally, the Ministry of Health denied the reports of health personnel: “So far, no severe adverse effects have been reported related to the application of the Moderna vaccine, while active surveillance of the mimes continues.”

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