September 8, 2022 Update: In an interview with the L.A. Times conducted after we published our story, Carlos Vaquerano, the chief executive of Clinica Romero told The Times that they found out about the error through a staff member in May. Vaquerano said so far no patients have come forward with "any problems." "We understand their concern and I apologize for what happened.” The issue allegedly stemmed from an employee who continued to dilute Pfizer vaccine doses after they no longer needed to be diluted. Vaquerano told The Times that the employee was placed on leave and eventually fired.
Pedro suspects he got COVID during the first month of the pandemic, long before testing and vaccines were widely available. Although he experienced hardly any physical symptoms, long COVID symptoms like brain fog, insomnia and aphasia got so bad that the 37-year-old thought he might be disabled for a while.
So in late October of last year, Pedro didn't waste any time when he became eligible for his third booster. He walked over to Clinica Romero, a nearby low-income health clinic in his neighborhood, and got his shot.
Ten months later, Pedro received a letter from Clinica Romero that he initially almost threw away. “Dear Valued Patient…Clinica Romero has been made aware that we may have diluted the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines.”
Pedro was stunned.