Nearly two dozen Americans experienced life-threatening allergic reactions after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, a new report found.
Between December 14 and 23, a total of 21 people suffered anaphylaxis on receiving the first dose, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed on Wednesday.
Of these patients, 17 people had a history of allergies or allergic reactions and 71 percent of cases occurred 15 minutes after vaccination.
With approximately only 1.9 million injections administered during this period, that is a rate of 11.1 cases of anaphylaxis per million doses.
However, the CDC says this reaction is “still extremely rare” and urges the general public to get vaccines when they are available to help contain the pandemic that is claiming an average of more than 2,000 lives a day in the U.S.
A new CDC report on Wednesday revealed that 21 people out of 1.9 million suffered anaphylaxis after receiving the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine (above)
Of the patients, 17 had a history of allergies or allergic reactions and 71% occurred within 15 minutes after vaccination, but all would have recovered. Pictured: Dr. Nick Gilpin receives his second Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from registered nurse Susan Grant at Beaumont Health in Southfield, Michigan, January 5
The 21 people who suffered anaphylaxis were between 27 and 60 years old and the majority were women, with only two male patients – although the CDC says this was because more women than men received the first dose of the vaccine.
A total of 17 people had a history of allergy to a wide variety of things, including tropical fruits, bee and wasp stings, eggs, shellfish, cats, penicillin and steroids.
Two of the patients had previous reactions to vaccines, one to the rabies vaccine and the other to the H1N1 flu vaccine.
Seven had a history of anaphylactic shock.
According to the report, the reactions occurred between two minutes and 150 minutes after taking the dose of Pfizer.
Ninety percent of patients were treated with epinephrine, a hormone that relaxes airway muscles, and 19 percent – or four people – were hospitalized, including three in the ICU.
The remaining 17 percent were treated in an emergency department. Of the 20 people with available follow-up information, all were discharged home or recovered.
No deaths were reported.
With 21 reactions from 1,893,360 first doses, this equates to a rate of 11.1 cases of anaphylaxis per million doses.
In comparison, the flu rate is one case per million doses.
“This may seem high compared to the flu, but I want to assure you that it is still a rare result,” Dr. Nancy Messonier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters on a call on Wednesday. -market.
“I still believe that Covid’s risk makes it imperative that people get vaccinated as soon as they become available.”
Anaphylactic shock is a serious and potentially fatal reaction to an allergy to food, medication or even a type of material.
The immune system releases chemicals that flood the body, blood pressure drops suddenly and the airways narrow, which prevents normal breathing.
Symptoms usually occur within minutes and include hives, a weak pulse, nausea, vomiting, dizziness and a swollen tongue or throat.
If not treated immediately, it can lead to death.
Allergic reactions to the Pfizer injection were first observed in the UK, when two National Health Service (NHS) employees with a history of severe allergies suffered reactions after being immunized last month.
One worker, a 49-year-old woman, had a history of egg allergy and the other, a 40-year-old woman, had a history of drug allergy.
Both carried devices that contained epinephrine in case they suffered a reaction.
A third patient also had a “possible allergic reaction”, but British authorities have not described or updated it on the patient.
Pfizer says its jab is not made with egg ingredients.
Following the reactions, the UK Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued an alert that anyone with severe allergic reactions to food or medicine should not receive the vaccine.
About 32 million Americans have food allergies, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. It is not known how many are allergic to medications.
In the United States, those without anaphylaxis or immediate allergic reactions should be observed for 15 minutes and those with this history for 30 minutes.
‘If you are allergic to vaccine compounds or closely related compounds, we recommend that you not be vaccinated at this time,’ said Dr. Thomas Clark, epidemiology leader at the CDC’s Department of Preventable Vaccine and Meningitis, during a call with reporters.
Clinical trial data also revealed that four people who received the vaccine were diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a type of facial paralysis.
However, the trial scientists said there was no evidence of the injection that caused the disease and that the number was on par with the rate of Bell’s palsy in the general population.
‘Among the unsolicited non-serious adverse events, there was a numerical imbalance of four cases of Bell’s palsy in the vaccine group compared to none in the placebo group, although the four cases in the vaccine group do not represent a higher than expected frequency. in the general population ”, said the analysis.
In its report on Pfizer, the CDC said it plans to study the adverse events reported after receiving the Modern COVID-19 vaccine and launch an analysis in the coming weeks.