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File photo of a healthcare worker preparing a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in Singapore. (File photo: Jeremy Long)

Receiving more than the recommended dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is unlikely to be harmful, said Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) on Saturday (Feb 6), citing clinical trial data from the two pharmaceutical companies.

This comes after an employee from the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) was wrongly administered the equivalent of five doses of the vaccine due to a human error.The recommended schedule for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is two doses, 21 days apart.

“Clinical trial data from Pfizer-BioNTech has indicated that receiving more than the recommended dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is unlikely to be harmful,” said MOH in response to CNA’s queries.

“The affected staff is well, and did not have any adverse reaction or side effects.”MOH said the incident at SNEC is an isolated one due to a human error by a staff member administering the vaccine, adding that it has not been notified of any similar incidents at other vaccination sites.

The error happened on Jan 14 during a vaccination exercise conducted at SNEC for its staff members.

According to SNEC in an earlier media release, investigations showed that the error resulted from a lapse in communication among the vaccination team at the time.

The error was discovered within minutes of the vaccination when the affected employee was resting in a designated area after the jab. As a precaution, the affected employee was warded at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) for observation as was discharged two days later.In response to CNA's queries, the eye centre said the affected employee remains well and is scheduled for the second dosage of the vaccine, pending the blood serology test results//CNA