The California state epidemiologist recommended that the state suspend the distribution of more than 330,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine after a “higher than usual” number of people showed signs of a possible serious allergic reaction.
The recommendation comes at a serious time in California, which is experiencing one of the most serious outbreaks in the state. About 40,000 people test positive every day – the equivalent of the daily case load for the entire United States as recently as September – and the hospital beds in California are getting full.
The state epidemiologist, Dr Erica S. Pan, made the recommendation “out of the utmost caution” after several people who received the vaccine at one community clinic needed medical help within 24 hours. It appears everyone is experiencing a ‘serious’ allergic reaction, and officials have recommended that other vaccines not be used before the investigation is completed, the health department said in a statement on Sunday.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an example of a severe allergic reaction is when a patient has to go to a hospital or be treated with epinephrine.
The recent reactions are related to a distribution of vaccines at Petco Park in San Diego, a California Department of Public Health spokesman said. It was not immediately clear how the delay would affect the overall deployment of vaccines from the state, which was confused and plagued with confusion.
The possible allergic reactions stemmed from the same group of Moderna vaccines, which included more than 330,000 doses, among 3.5 million vaccines allocated to the state. California has distributed less than a third of its allocated vaccines, below the national average, while 2.2 percent of the state’s population received a first dose, according to a New York Times vaccine survey.
Allergic reactions are a rare reaction to some vaccines. Some estimates suggest that the risk of severe allergic reactions is about 1 in 100,000 for a similar coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech.