Coronavirus, severe allergic reaction to Pfizer vaccine for two health workers in Alaska- Corriere.it

Two healthcare workers from the same hospital, Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau, Alaska, experienced serious adverse reactions ten minutes after receiving the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. One of the two, a middle-aged woman, was hospitalized while the second was discharged an hour later because she made a full recovery.

The two episodes

The woman, who had no known allergies, suffered one Tuesday, according to the New York Times. anaphylactic crisis About ten minutes after receiving the vaccine, you experience shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, rash on the face and chest. Initially they gave him a dose of adrenalin, standard treatment for severe allergic reactions. The symptoms were relieved at first and then returned and an intravenous injection of epinephrine and a treatment based on steroids. When the epinephrine drip was stopped, the symptoms reappeared and the woman was transferred to the ICU for observation for two nights. The second health worker, vaccinated on Wednesday, has developed dizziness, sore throat, and puffy eyes. Accompanied to the emergency room, he was treated with epinephrine and he recovered quickly, so much so that an hour later he was discharged. An allergic reaction is so serious in a middle-aged person that something very strange, usually occurs in very young comments Sergio Abrignani, Immunologist from the State University of Milan and the Institute of Molecular Genetics “Romeo and Enrica Invernizzi”. If this is the case when the number of these hypothetical serious allergic events in non-allergic adults is known, the risk-benefit ratio between getting vaccinated and not getting vaccinated, as with all medical interventions. But I am absolutely sure that by continuing to vaccinate, the benefit will outweigh the risk.

Without stopping the vaccination plan

As of Wednesday, Bartlett Regional Hospital had administered 144 doses of the vaccine. However, the hospital will continue the vaccination campaign. We have no plans to change our plan, said Anne Zink, project manager. All licensed sites to vaccinate in Alaska must have medications available to deal with an allergic reaction, and that was the case, he added.

The safe and effective vaccine

Although in a clinical study involving 44,000 participants, the Pfizer vaccine hadproven to be 95% safe and effective early cases of adverse reactions may raise some concern and even more stringent guidelines may be required for vaccine control. Now you have to understand what was the component that triggered such a significant adverse reaction.