A healthcare worker in Alaska had a severe allergic reaction after receiving the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday and was hospitalized, according to three people familiar with official reports on the person’s health. The person is in stable condition.
Government officials were fighting Wednesday to get more information about the case. It was not immediately clear if the worker had a history of allergies, making it difficult to assess the broader significance of the incident, as millions of Americans will be vaccinated in the coming weeks. The reaction was believed to be similar to the anaphylactic reactions that two healthcare workers in Britain experienced after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine last week. They both recovered.
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The company’s US trial involving more than 40,000 people found no serious adverse events caused by the vaccine, although many participants experienced pain, fever and other side effects. Serious allergic reactions to vaccines are usually related to the vaccine because of its timing.
A representative for Pfizer did not immediately comment on the case.
Pfizer officials have said the two Britons who had the reaction had a history of severe allergies.
In the United States, federal regulators issued a broad authorization for the vaccine Friday to adults 16 and older. Healthcare providers were warned not to administer the vaccine to anyone with a “known history of a severe allergic reaction” to any component of the vaccine, which they said was a standard warning for vaccines.
But because of the British cases, Food and Drug Administration officials have said they would require Pfizer to increase its monitoring for anaphylaxis and submit data on it once the vaccine goes into use. Pfizer also said that it is recommended that the vaccine be administered in settings that have access to equipment to control anaphylaxis. Last weekend, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that people with severe allergies can be safely vaccinated with close monitoring for 30 minutes after receiving the injection.
Anaphylaxis can be life-threatening, with shortness of breath and drops in blood pressure that usually occur minutes or even seconds after exposure to a food, medicine, or even a substance like latex to which the person is allergic.
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