A nurse prepares a syringe with coronavirus vaccine in Germany, where an investigation is taking place after thousands of people were injected with saline solution rather than the vaccine. Photo:THOMAS LOHNES / AFP
Police in Germany are investigating after thousands of people were reportedly injected with saline solution instead of the COVID vaccine.Authorities are appealing for around 8,600 people to get another dose of the vaccine as a nurse is suspected of injecting them with saline solution instead of the vaccine in Friesland on the North Sea coast in the early spring.The potential motive of the suspect, who has not been named, is unclear, although she had posted statements sceptical of the vaccine on social media, according to police investigators speaking to public radio broadcaster NDR.It was not immediately clear whether the suspect had been arrested or charged. According to NDR the nurse has been handed to a special unit that investigates politically motivated crimes.Saline solution is not harmful, however many of those injected were elderly people who would potentially be more vulnerable to COVID.Peter Beer, a police investigator, told NDR that there was “a reasonable suspicion of danger”.Sven Ambrosy, a local councillor, said on Facebook, "I am totally shocked by this episode."
