© Provided by Daily Mail
MailOnline logo
A Boston doctor with a seafood allergy suffered a severe reaction after receiving the Modern coronavirus vaccine.
Dr. Hossein Sadrzadeh, who works as a geriatric oncologist at Boston Medical Center, got dizzy and experienced an increase in heart rate after getting the vaccine on Christmas Eve.
It is the first severe reaction of its kind that has been documented so far with the Moderna jab, which was approved last week and started to be implemented on Monday.
Federal agencies are investigating at least six cases in which people suffered anaphylaxis after receiving the alternative vaccine Pfizer / BioNTech.
Sadrzadeh also describes how he felt his tongue go numb and prickly as his blood pressure dropped when he started to sweat cold.
“It was the same anaphylactic reaction that I experience when eating seafood,” Sadrzadeh told The New York Times. “I don’t want anyone to go through this.”
Sadrzadeh quickly used an EpiPen he had brought with him, in case he suffered such a reaction.
He was taken to the emergency room and discharged four hours after being examined.
© Provided by Daily Mail
The doctor works at Boston Medical Center and received his injection there too
‘The main concern for me as a human being and as a doctor … I have to get the word out to people … People should have EpiPen with them if they have allergic reactions,’ Sadrzadeh told CBS46, calling on Moderna to investigate further.
In a statement, David Kibbe, a spokesman for the Boston Medical Center, said that Sadrzadeh ‘felt he was developing an allergic reaction and was allowed to self-administer his personal EpiPen.
“He was taken to the Emergency Room, evaluated, treated, observed and dismissed. He’s fine today. ‘
In the weeks since the vaccines were distributed, there were few allergic reactions to those who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
During Pfizer’s testing phase – when 44,000 people were examined and half received the vaccine – there were a small number of allergic reactions recorded.
But the company said the rate at which people suffered them was equivalent to the number of people suffering from allergies in the general public, so it was not abnormal.
Sadrzadeh’s case is the first known reaction to someone who received Moderna’s injection.
© Provided by Daily Mail
It is the first known case of an allergic reaction to a modern coronavirus vaccine. In the photo, the COVID-19 Moderna vaccine was removed from the packaging at the Boston Medical Center pharmacy last week
The vaccines are made with similar ingredients and both require two injections a few weeks apart. It is not known which ingredient in coronavirus vaccines may be causing severe allergic reactions in some people.
Video: FDA paves the way for Cleveland Clinic’s innovative breast cancer vaccine (WJW-TV Cleveland)
Click to expand
NEXT
“It is known that one of the components that is present in both vaccines, polyethylene glycol, can be associated in an unusual way with allergic reactions,” said Dr. Peter Marks, who heads the FDA’s Center for Biological Research and Evaluation during a final week briefing.
‘This may be a culprit here. And that is why we will be watching closely while we see the Modern vaccine launched, ‘he said.
Vaccine manufacturers and the National Institutes of Health are considering conducting clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccines in very allergic populations, in an attempt to help understand the rate of allergic reactions and what is causing them.
© Provided by Daily Mail
Courtney Senechal, RN, prepares an injection of the Moderna vaccine at the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center in East Boston. Health professionals at the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center are believed to be among the first in Massachusetts to receive the Modern vaccine
CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said information about reactions to the new vaccines would be posted on the website next week.
The agency recommended that people with allergies still receive the injections and wait 15 minutes after the injection before leaving the medical center.
Anyone who has ever had an anaphylactic reaction should be monitored for a total of 30 minutes.
So far, more than 1.1 million vaccines have been administered to people in the United States, and serious allergic reactions remain extremely rare.
“This should not stop people who are obviously not at increased risk,” Dr. Merin Kuruvilla, an allergist and immunologist at Emory University, told the Times.
Thousands of healthcare professionals have received the Pfizer vaccine so far and it is expected that – with two applications now on the market – the rate of vaccination implementation will accelerate further.
Moderna’s vaccine is available in quantities as small as 100 doses and can be stored for 30 days in standard temperature refrigerators.
On the other hand, Pfizer’s inoculations come in boxes of 975 doses, must be shipped and stored at -94 F (-70 Celsius) and can be kept for only five days in standard refrigerator temperatures.
Texas and Arkansas officials told Reuters they expect Moderna to be the primary vaccine for rural areas, which often lack the ultra-refrigeration equipment to store trays filled with Pfizer bottles.
Once the plastic in a Pfizer 975-dose tray is opened, recipients have only 120 hours to use the vaccine.
“Logistics will be easier with the Modern vaccine,” said Jesse Breidenbach, senior executive director of pharmacy at Sanford Health, which operates nearly four dozen hospitals in South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa.
“Thirty days in the fridge will make it a little easier to handle,” said Breidenbach.
Modern vaccine can cause swelling in people with facial fillers, warns dermatologist
Lip fillers react badly to one of the coronavirus vaccines, an FDA advisory committee noted – putting celebrities at risk, including Kylie Jenner.
Anyone with cosmetic facial fillers can experience swelling and inflammation, according to experts, after several study participants faced side effects.
A California dermatologist said the reaction was immunological, ABC7 reported yesterday.
Dr. Shirley Chi said that any side effects are easily treatable with steroids and antihistamines, adding: ‘Your immune system, which causes inflammation, is accelerated when you get a vaccine, this is how it should work.
“So it makes sense for you to see an immune response in certain areas where they see some substance that is not a naturally occurring substance in your body.”
Patients who received the Moderna vaccine, which was approved by regulators last Friday, had swelling in the area where the filler was placed.
Two patients had a cheek fill six months before the vaccine and one had a lip fill two days after the vaccine. The reactions were resolved quickly with medical attention, added Dr. Chi, so this should not prevent those with fillers from receiving the injection.
Read More