The rare serious allergic reactions that have been reported after people got the coronavirus vaccine may be linked to a chemical found in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
The compound called polyethylene glycol “may be to blame here,” the director of the FDA’s Center for Biological Research and Evaluation said recently about allergic reactions.
This chemical – present in the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines – may be associated with allergic reactions, added director Peter Marks.
“We just don’t know right now, and we will just have to use our good pharmacovigilance to monitor what is going on,” said Marks.
The CDC became aware of reports that some people had severe allergic reactions, also known as anaphylaxis, after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Boston Medical Center confirmed on Friday that an employee who received the Modern vaccine on Thursday developed an allergic reaction.
“He was taken to the emergency room, evaluated, treated, observed and released,” said the BMC in a statement. “He’s fine today.”
The FDA is working with the CDC to investigate the cause of these allergic reactions.
“We will be examining all the data we can from each of these reactions to find out exactly what happened and we will also try to understand which component of the vaccine may be helping to produce them,” Marks said.
The CDC recommends that people who have already had a severe allergic reaction to any ingredient in a COVID-19 vaccine do not receive that specific vaccine.