At least 29 people in the United States have developed severe allergic reactions to Covid-19 vaccines, federal health officials said on Wednesday.
The rate is much higher than that of the seasonal flu vaccine, officials at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. But serious reactions were rare and resulted in no deaths, and they encouraged the use of injections.
The 29 cases are from January 5 and are out of more than 5.3 million doses that have been administered so far, said the CDC.
The rate of 5.5 cases of anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction, for every million doses of Covid-19 vaccine administered to date, compares to the rate of 1.3 cases for every million doses of the vaccine against the flu, according to the CDC.
Still, cases of anaphylaxis are “extremely rare,” said Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, which is leading the agency’s Covid-19 vaccination efforts.