Panel rejects $1M payouts to inmates given vaccine overdoses

By DAVID PITT
Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A state board has rejected claims for $1 million payments for 52 prison inmates who were given six times the proper dose of COVID-19 vaccines last year. The three-member State Appeals Board on Monday unanimously denied the claims from inmates who received the extra doses in April 2021. The 52 inmates who each sought a $1 million payment were among 77 prisoners at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison who had been given overdoses of the Pfizer vaccine by prison nursing staff. The mistaken doses occurred after the vaccine was delivered in concentrate form that was supposed to be diluted with saline solution.