Raleigh woman says CVS gave her meningitis shot instead of coronavirus vaccination

A Raleigh woman who thought she had gotten her first dose of coronavirus vaccine said Thursday that she was was given a different vaccination instead.

Cintia Huddleston was a bit hesitant to get vaccinated, but she eventually had no choice because she works in nursing homes.

"They told me it was mandatory for me to keep working, and if I didn't get it, I would have had to stop working," Huddleston said.

So, she stopped at a CVS on Wake Forest Road in Raleigh on Aug. 5 before heading to work.

"I asked the lady for a COVID shot, and me and her, we sat there, [and] we talked at the counter," she said. "We talked about COVID and Moderna and Pfizer [vaccines]."

Huddleston said she settled on the Moderna vaccine and got her shot. She then sent her boss a text confirming she had received the first part of the two-dose regimen.

But when she went back to the CVS on Sept. 8 to get the second shot, she was shocked to find out she never actually got the Moderna vaccine.

"She was like, 'No, it was – you got a meningitis shot,'" she said. "I said, well, why was she giving me a meningitis shot I didn't expect. That's not what I came in here."

CVS officials said in a statement that the pharmacy "administered the correct vaccination that the patient requested and signed for.” They said they have offered to provide her with two doses of coronavirus vaccine and answer any questions she might have.

"Moderna and meningitis doesn't sound the same," said Huddleston, who got her first Moderna dose at a Walgreens pharmacy this week.

Huddleston has lodged a complaint with the North Carolina Pharmacy Board, which is investigating the incident.

"I see why people are scared of the COVID shot because they don't know what they get," she said. "I just really don't want it to happen to nobody else because it's scary."