In the last trap of the launch of the COVID-19 vaccine in California, the state’s leading epidemiologist recommended on Sunday night that clinics suspend hundreds of thousands of doses after a series of allergic reactions in Southern California.
An unusually high number of people experienced anaphylactic shock, a serious allergic reaction that requires immediate medical attention, after receiving an injection of the Moderna vaccine at a vaccination site in San Diego, Dr. Erica Pan said in a statement late on Sunday. Although the number was less than 10, the set of negative reactions prompted the California Department of Public Health to stop administering some 330,000 doses of the batch, which had been distributed throughout the state, until an investigation was completed.
“Our goal is to provide the COVID vaccine safely, quickly and fairly,” said Pan in the statement. “A greater than normal number of possible allergic reactions has been reported with a specific batch of Moderna vaccine administered at a community vaccination clinic. … For extreme caution and also recognizing the extremely limited supply of vaccine, we recommend that providers use another inventory of available vaccines and pause administration of vaccines from Lot 041L20A from Moderna until investigation by CDC, FDA, Moderna and the state is complete. We will provide an update as we learn more. “
The reactions reported at the San Diego clinic were similar to rare occurrences that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have warned and warned them to watch out for. In California, vaccination sites monitor recipients at the site for 15 minutes for adverse reactions. The Southern California cluster was the first in the country to be concerned enough to stop using it entirely.
The 330,000 doses in Moderna’s batch represent just under 10% of all vaccine doses allocated to California so far. But of the 3.5 million doses the state received, according to data from the CDC, it administered less than a third, just over 1 million doses. On a per capita basis, only five states inoculated fewer residents than California, according to CDC data.
Serious allergic reactions, although possible, are believed to be extremely rare in the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. The rate of anaphylaxis in the Moderna vaccine was expected to be around one in 100,000, officials said. Several federal and state agencies opened an investigation into the cases and said they would have more information later this week.