8-year-old Texas boy administered coronavirus vaccine by mistake

TEXAS -- Fire department officials in Texas concede that an 8-year-old boy was recently vaccinated by mistake.

The colossal error occurred at a COVID-19 vaccine site in Grand Prairie.

Dallas County requires people to register online before receiving the vaccine - and date of birth is required on the registration form.

In a statement, a Dallas County judge wrote that human error from a third party that oversees the county's vaccination registration list was the root cause of the mistake.

The judge said the automated sorting process initially identified minors as not yet eligible and placed them on a list with others who aren't eligible. Once eligibility opened to include those over the age of 16, the human error caused minors to be moved into an eligible group without checking for age requirements.

Jenkins said the county's Information Technology department is working with that third-party company to make sure it doesn't happen again.

As of March 29, Texans 16 and older became eligible to receive the vaccine in Texas.

However, it has not yet been approved for anyone younger than that age.

"At this point we don't have enough information on children to say that they're ready to get it at this dose or these particular vaccines so it's just premature for us to be giving it to them," one expert said.