A Boston doctor who used an EpiPen on himself after having the first known allergic reaction to Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine is talking about his experience.
A few moments after receiving the first dose of the vaccine on Thursday, Dr. Hossein Sadrzadeh of the Boston Medical Center said his heart was racing. He initially thought it was anxiety, he said, but then he felt his tongue and throat tingle and start to go numb.
“My blood pressure was really low, so this is the time when I knew it was an anaphylactic shock,” Sadrzadeh told NBC10 Boston and NECN. “My heart rate is high, I’m sweating, so my blood pressure is really low. I’ve had this before, so I took my EpiPen and managed it.”
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Sadrzadeh, who has a severe seafood allergy, was taken to the emergency department after receiving the injection containing the vaccine from the Cambridge-based company. He was feeling normal again on Friday, he said.
Sadrzadeh is the first person to have a known allergic reaction to Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine, according to The New York Times. Other vaccines now in use are also known to cause allergic reactions in rare cases. More than 35,000 people received the vaccine in Massachusetts on Tuesday, according to the new state panel.
Sadrzadeh hopes his story will raise awareness of the vaccine’s potential to induce anaphylaxis both among pharmaceutical companies and anyone with a history of allergies.
“I think people need to be vaccinated,” said Sadrzadeh. “At the same time, I would really like Moderna and Pfizer to investigate this further to prevent things from happening.”
US health officials say the modern and Pfizer coronavirus vaccines are safe, and medical experts agree that allergic reactions to vaccines are rare, but can sometimes happen.
Thousands of additional doses of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine began arriving in Massachusetts on Tuesday.
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that, “If you have ever had a severe allergic reaction to any ingredient in a COVID-19 vaccine … you should not get that specific vaccine. If you have had a severe allergic reaction other vaccines or injectable therapies, you should ask your doctor if you should get the COVID-19 vaccine. Your doctor will help you decide if it is safe for you to be vaccinated. “
Just over 1 million people in the United States received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday morning, according to the CDC, and only a handful of reactions to them have qualified as anaphylaxis, a serious allergic reaction. and potentially fatal.
British authorities are investigating reports that two people who received the Pfizer vaccine had allergic reactions. Medical experts say that although reactions are rare, they are not new to vaccines of any kind and are generally short-lived.
It is not clear why some people are having allergic reactions after taking the injections. Fatigue, headaches and muscle aches have been identified as the most common side effects of the Moderna vaccine, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
A study led by a team from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is looking at why some people have suffered from severe allergic reactions and should include several hundred people with a history of severe allergic reactions.
Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine began arriving in Massachusetts on Tuesday as part of a shipment of more than 116,000 doses. The delivery totaled 59,475 doses of Pfizer that were distributed in the state in the first week of arrival. Of that total, Boston Medical Center received its first shipment of 75,000 doses of Moderna’s vaccine, in addition to the 2,000 doses of Pfizer, which have already begun to be administered to employees and patients.