US officials report more severe allergic reactions to COVID-19 vaccines

(Reuters) – The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday that they are carefully monitoring allergic reactions to the coronavirus vaccines from Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc and urged individuals who had a severe reaction not to receive the second dose.

In a conference call with reporters, the United States public health agency said that allergic reactions are occurring at a rate of 11.1 per 1 million vaccinations. This compares to flu vaccines, in which these reactions occur at a rate of 1.3 per 1 million vaccines.

Serious reactions are still “extremely rare,” they said, emphasizing the need for people to be vaccinated when vaccines are available, given the threat of death and serious coronavirus disease, which has claimed more than 357,000 lives in the United States alone. .

The CDC said it is closely monitoring allergic reaction incidents and plans to post weekly updates on its website.

The agency is also calling for sites that deliver the vaccine to be prepared not only to recognize serious allergic reactions, known as anaphylaxis, but to be trained on how to treat them and recognize when individuals need to be referred to hospitals for additional care.

CDC officials said 28 people who received the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech had severe allergic reactions. They also noticed a case of anaphylaxis, which can cause swelling in the throat and difficulty breathing, after an individual received the Moderna vaccine.

The authorities attributed the difference in large part to the fact that the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine was authorized before the Modern injection, and said the precautions apply to both.

A study published on Wednesday in the CDC’s weekly report on death and illness analyzing cases between December 14 and 23, identified 21 cases of anaphylaxis after administering 1,893,360 doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine. Of these, 71% occurred in the first 15 minutes after administration of the vaccine.

Britain’s medical regulator said that anyone with a history of anaphylaxis or severe allergic reactions to a drug or food should not receive the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine.