In the first week and a half of the US Covid-19 vaccine effort, the CDC said there were 21 additional confirmed cases of severe allergic reactions known as anaphylaxis, bringing the total number of cases to 29 out of 1.9 million doses administered.
In comparison, the rate of severe allergic reaction for the flu vaccine is 1.3 per 1 million doses.
“The anaphylaxis rate of Covid-19 vaccines may seem high compared to flu vaccines. But I want to assure you that this is still a rare result,” said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Diseases. CDC respiratory a press conference.
All allergic reactions occurred within minutes of vaccination, said the CDC. The CDC has information on 20 of the 21 patients and all have recovered.
Anaphylaxis is a serious allergic reaction, but with treatment it usually resolves quickly.
The CDC has so far seen no evidence from geographic groups of reactions and no evidence that “bad” batches existed. Vaccines given to people who have had reactions do not come from the same batch.
Of the people who had the severe allergic reaction, 17 had a documented history of allergies, said Messonnier, including medicines, medical products, food and insects.
People who have had an allergic reaction to the first dose should not receive the second dose for now.
“We are adapting our recommendations as we learn more,” said Messonnier.
The CDC said it will continue to see allergic reactions in people receiving the vaccine. The CDC team said that people may be reporting more cases or allergic reactions than are normally reported.
“It is possible that intense media attention around the national vaccination program COVID-19 and increased awareness of anaphylaxis reports have affected the behavior and practices of the vaccine recipient and the health provider, including heightened concern and anxiety. , higher anaphylaxis suspicion index and lower limit for early treatment of suspected cases, thus resulting in an increase in the diagnosis of suspected anaphylaxis and corresponding stimulation above the baseline for VAERS (the vaccine adverse reaction notification system) ), “wrote the CDC team in the MMWR report.
Risk versus benefit
“The known and potential benefits of current Covid-19 vaccines outweigh the known and potential risks, obtaining Covid-19,” said Messonnier. “This does not mean, however, that we cannot see potential serious health events in the future.”
The CDC also saw no other serious concerns about vaccines.
“We know that security is one of the public’s biggest concerns about Covid-19,” said Messonnier.
“Vaccine safety has been central to the entire development process, and the continued safety of these vaccines when administered to the public is of the utmost importance to the federal government,” she added.
In clinical trials, vaccines have been administered to more than 70,000 people. But doctors know that, when administered to millions of people, more rare events can begin to appear. On Tuesday, the vaccine was administered to 4.8 million people in the United States, the CDC said.
“Ensuring public knowledge and confidence in the safety of these vaccines, both initially and during prolonged use, is an essential part of our successful National Vaccine efforts,” said Messonnier.
Messonnier said he understands how nervous people can be about the vaccine.
“I can say that my parents, who are in their 80s, are also nervous,” said Messonnier. “We are studying these vaccines closely and our systems that can look for adverse events are incredibly robust. We are not seeing any worrying signs. The only thing we have seen are these serious allergic reactions.”
The CDC is emphasizing that any location that provides coronavirus vaccines must be prepared to treat a reaction immediately. People are asked to stay in place for at least 15 minutes after receiving the vaccine to ensure that they can be treated immediately and correctly if they experience a reaction; people who have had an allergic reaction to a vaccine in the past should stay for 30 minutes.
Messonnier said the vaccine’s risks are very acceptable.
“I still believe that the risk of Covid and the risk of poor results, especially in the elderly, makes it imperative that people get vaccinated as soon as they are available to them,” she said.