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Tags: pfizer | vaccination | site | nyc | expired | doses

NYC Vaccination Site Injected 899 With Expired Pfizer Doses

closeup of a pfizer vaccine
(Getty Images)

By    |   Monday, 14 June 2021 10:06 PM EDT

An emergency notice went out to 899 vaccinated New Yorkers this week, telling them they received expired doses of the Pfizer shot.

Patients who got their shots at the former NFL Experience building in Times Square were informed via email and a phone call they needed to get another shot, because they "cannot guarantee the effectiveness" of the expired shots they received, the New York Post reported Monday.

"ATC Vaccination Services is part of a large group of vaccine distributors in partnership with the NYC Department of Health to distribute the vaccine," an ATC Vaccination Services spokesperson wrote in a statement to Newsmax.

"We apologize for the inconvenience to those receiving the vaccine batch in question and want people first and foremost to know that we have been advised that there is no danger from the vaccine they received.

"After consulting Pfizer, NYC Department of Health sent out an email on our behalf alerting everyone to return for another vaccine. 

"They further instructed us to follow up via phone and mail to alert the recipients that the only way to be certain that they are fully vaccinated is to come in for another shot because the shot in question was in the freezer 'too long' to be assured of its full effectiveness. 

"We encourage those affected to get a new dose anywhere that provides the Pfizer vaccine."

One dad of two teen daughters who were given the shot last week was outraged about the email and a phone call.

"The guy who called wasn't even a doctor," the dad said, potentially concerned about the safety issues of an expired dosage, which officials assure is no danger to the patient.

"It's a 6 day period of time. Nobody noticed?" he added to the Post.

The expiration date on the Pfizer shots was intended to ensure efficacy of the vaccine and is not any less safe, they said.

In the email to the patients who received the faulty doses:

"We are contacting you concerning the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine you received at Times Square – NFL Experience vaccination site on June 5 to June 10, 2021. It was recognized after the vaccine was administered, that it had been in the freezer beyond the approved time frame prior to it being administered."

The Pfizer vaccine has stringent requirements to be stored in dry ice and specific timespans under its efficacy trials.

The email confirmed city Health Department and the New York City Vaccine Command Center advises "there should be no adverse health consequences from the vaccine already received."

"Since we cannot guarantee the effectiveness of the vaccine dose you received, we recommend that it be repeated in order to ensure protection," the email added. "This vaccine dose administered in error will not count toward a completed vaccine series."

The "repeated dose" can be taken right away "in the opposite arm" from the defective shot, according to officials.

Pfizer is a two-dose vaccine, along with Moderna. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a one-dose program.

"This notice can be given to the provider to confirm why you need to receive an extra dose of vaccine," the email concluded.

"We apologize for any inconvenience or concern this may cause you."

A supervisor at the Times Square popup vaccination site declined to comment to the Post when asked about the expired doses administered.

City officials have removed ATC Vaccination Services as the operator of the site and a new operator has replaced it, Mayor Bill de Blasio's office told the Post.

Eric Mack

Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.

© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


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An emergency notice went out to 899 vaccinated New Yorkers this week, telling them they received expired doses of the Pfizer shot.
pfizer, vaccination, site, nyc, expired, doses
584
2021-06-14
Monday, 14 June 2021 10:06 PM
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