A Wallowa Memorial Hospital employee had a severe allergic reaction to an initial dose of the Modern coronavirus vaccine this week, state health officials said on Thursday.
The health worker has been hospitalized and continues to recover, according to a statement provided by the Oregon Health Authority. The agency did not say whether the person had a history of allergic reactions.
It is the first time that state officials have reported a case of an Oregonian having a severe allergic reaction to a coronavirus vaccine since immunizations began in mid-December.
The case is also notable because, until recently, only the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines were known to cause severe allergic reactions. The first known severe reaction to the Modern vaccine occurred on December 24, according to The New York Times.
Federal health officials say there is a “remote” chance that the Modern vaccine will trigger a severe allergic reaction, usually within an hour after someone receives the injection. Normal reactions to the vaccine include pain at the injection site, fatigue, nausea and headaches.
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A federal analysis of the Moderna vaccine found that those who had received an injection did not seem more likely to have a serious reaction than those who did not. But given that the vaccine was tested and approved on a dramatically faster schedule than normal, the authorities indicated that future data could show otherwise.
“Surveillance will be critical to detect any rare serious adverse events that were not identified in the clinical trial,” said the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices earlier this month.
The health authority asked people who had severe allergic reactions to other vaccines to talk to their doctors about whether it is safe to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
About 38,700 Oregon residents received their first dose of Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, 68 of them in Wallowa County. Modern vaccines account for 12,054 doses administered, the health authority said.
With 529 doses administered per 100,000 people, Oregon has one of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the country, according to data compiled by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
– Fedor Zarkhin; [email protected]; 503-294-7674