Photographer: Eric Lee / Bloomberg
Photographer: Eric Lee / Bloomberg
About 1 in 100,000 people had a severe allergic reaction to the first Covid-19 vaccine, a rate higher than the flu vaccine, but still fairly rare, U.S. health officials said.
A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released Wednesday, set out 21 cases of anaphylaxis among the first 1.9 million recipients of Pfizer Inc. vaccine, a dose of 11.1 per million doses administered. No deaths have been reported from anaphylaxis, the CDC said.
The CDC said the reactions were seen by recipients of the Moderna Inc. also shot with 29 confirmed cases of anaphylaxis between the two vaccines. However, the CDC maintains its recommendation that most people still take the shots, saying that the risks surrounding the vaccine are less than the risk of getting a serious case of Covid-19.
“Even at 11 cases per million doses, it is a very safe vaccine,” said Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “I still believe that the risk of Covid, and the risk of poor outcomes, especially among senior citizens, is essential for people to continue to be vaccinated as soon as it becomes available.”
The only exceptions set out by the CDC are people with a known allergy to the ingredients of the vaccines, and people who respond to the first dose of Covid vaccine.
Messonnier stressed, however, that those with a history of allergic reactions to drugs and severe allergic reactions of whatever cause should be observed half an hour after the shots, and providers should be prepared for allergic reactions such as the EpiPen.
Regulators are closely monitoring the safety of Covid-19 vaccines as they are being rolled out, she added, noting: ‘We do not see any alarming signals. The only thing we have seen is these severe allergic reactions. ”
Established pattern
Severe allergic reactions to vaccines are an established, though uncommon phenomenon. They occur about 1.3 times per million doses of flu vaccine, and in other vaccines it has been seen at 12 to 25 per million doses, although the studies were small.
Many safety issues after vaccination are also incidental, Messonnier noticedand said: “the vaccine is not always the cause of it.”
The severe allergic reactions observed with early Covid-19 vaccines did not significantly affect the distribution plans, Messonnier said.
Of patients who had severe allergic reactions to the Pfizer vaccine, four had to be admitted to hospital, and the rest were treated in the emergency room. CDC officials said all 20 patients they had information about had recovered.
‘It’s an unusual complication. It is reversible and treatable, ”said Anthony Fauci, the government’s leading doctor on infectious diseases, during an online event at the Washington DC Economic Club.