2 US Healthcare Workers Develop ‘Worrisome’ Allergic Reactions to Pfizer’s COVID19 Vaccine

Two healthcare workers, who received Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, developed ‘worrying reactions’, even as the US rolled out the vaccine to front-line healthcare workers and high-risk individuals amid the surge of COVID19 infections nationwide. A report in The New York Times said that the two healthcare workers at Bartlett Regional Hospital in Alaska developed worrying reactions within minutes after receiving Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine this week. A staff member was hospitalized for a few days.

One of the healthcare workers, a middle-aged woman, had no history of allergies but had an anaphylactic reaction 10 minutes after receiving the vaccine. She experienced a rash on her face and torso, shortness of breath and an elevated heart rate, according to the NYT report, adding that anaphylaxis can be life-threatening, with trouble breathing and drops in blood pressure generally occurring minutes or even seconds after exposure. to a food or medicine, or even a substance like latex to which the person is allergic.

The second worker received his injection on Wednesday and developed eye swelling, dizziness and an itchy throat 10 minutes after the injection, the hospital said in a statement. They took him to the emergency room and treated him with medications that included epinephrine and Benadryl. The worker returned to normal within an hour and was released. The first COVID-19 vaccines began this week in the US and intensive care nurse Sandra Lindsay in New York became the first person in the US to get vaccinated against COVID19.

The Pfizer vaccine was shown to be safe with an efficacy rate of about 95 percent in a clinical trial involving 44,000 participants. The NYT report added that the Alaska cases will likely heighten concerns about potential side effects and may generate calls for stricter guidelines to ensure recipients are carefully monitored for adverse reactions. Despite the initial cases of allergic reactions, health officials have said the cases would not disrupt their vaccine launch plans.

“We have no plans to change our vaccine schedule, dose or regimen,” said Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s chief medical officer, in a statement. Bartlett Regional Hospital emergency department medical director Dr. Lindy Jones said the first worker received an injection of epinephrine, a standard treatment for severe allergic reactions. Although her symptoms subsided, they reappeared and she was treated with steroids and a drip of epinephrine.

The NYT report said that when doctors tried to stop the drip, her symptoms reappeared once again, so the woman was transferred to the intensive care unit. The hospital has administered 144 total doses as of Wednesday night. Dr. Paul A Offit, a vaccine expert and member of an outside advisory panel who recommended that the Food and Drug Administration authorize the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use, said that initial cases of allergic reaction in individuals should not mean that the launch of the vaccine should be stopped. .

“I don’t think this means that we should pause, vaccine distribution,” he said. “No way.” But he said researchers must find out “which component of the vaccine is causing this reaction.” Dr. Jay Butler, a leading infectious disease expert at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the Alaska situation showed that the monitoring system was working. The federal agency has recommended that the vaccine be given in settings that have supplies, including oxygen and epinephrine, to control anaphylactic reactions.

Similar allergic reactions have also occurred in people who were vaccinated in Britain. According to the NYT, a Pfizer spokeswoman, Jerica Pitts, said the company did not yet have full details of the Alaska situation, but was working with local health authorities. The vaccine comes with information advising that medical treatment should be available in the event of a rare anaphylactic event, he said. “We will closely monitor all reports suggesting serious allergic reactions after vaccination and update the label language if necessary,” Pitts said.

Pfizer officials have said the two Britons who had the reaction had a history of severe allergies. One, a 49-year-old woman, had a history of egg allergy. The other, a 40-year-old woman, had a history of allergy to various medications. FDA officials have said they will require Pfizer to increase its anaphylaxis monitoring and submit data on it once the vaccine is used more, according to the NYT report.