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British health officials warned on December 9, 2020 that anyone with a history of significant allergic reactions should not take the Pfizer / BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for now.
The warning came after two members of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), who were among the first to receive the vaccine the day before (8 December 2020), suffered allergic reactions and needed treatment.
NHS England Medical Director Dr Stephen Powis said both people, who had a history of reactions, were now recovering well.
The UK’s independent Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has now warned that “people with a significant history of allergic reactions do not receive this vaccine” as a precaution, he added.
“Significant” allergic reactions include those to drugs, foods or vaccines, according to the agency.
Thousands of Britons became the first in the Western world to receive an approved Covid-19 vaccine on (December 8, 2020) when the UK’s NHS began the largest vaccination campaign since its inception in 1948.
The vaccine is given in two doses 21 days apart.
Those over 80 years of age and health and social care personnel are the first to receive the blow in the national deployment.
The UK has received some 800,000 doses of the vaccine in the first batch of a 40 million order.
Up to four million doses are expected by the end of December (2020).
Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said Tuesday he understood global concerns about the speed with which drug companies have produced Covid-19 vaccines.
But he insisted that no corners have been cut.
The vaccine had been tested “in exactly the same way that we are testing any vaccine that is circulating out there,” he told a virtual press conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
Pfizer said the UK MHRA had informed it of the allergic reactions, but added that during phase 3 clinical trials of more than 40,000 people, the vaccine was “generally well tolerated without serious safety concerns.” – AFP Relaxnews
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