What You Should Know About Covid Vaccines in Orange, California
Four people so far have had allergic reactions after getting the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Experts say that shouldn’t deter most people from getting a jab.
Allergic reactions reported in two health workers who received a dose of Pfizer’s vaccine in Alaska this week have reignited concerns that people with a history of extreme immune flare-ups might not be good candidates for the newly cleared shots.
The two incidents follow another pair of cases in Britain. Three of the four were severe enough to qualify as anaphylaxis, a severe and potentially life-threatening reaction. But all four people appear to have recovered.
Health officials on both sides of the pond are vigilantly monitoring vaccinated people to see if more cases emerge. Last week, British drug regulators recommended against the use of Pfizer’s vaccine in people who have previously had anaphylactic reactions to food, medicines or vaccines.
And on Thursday, Dr. Doran Fink, deputy director of the Food and Drug Administration’s clinical division of vaccines and related products applications, addressed the issue during a meeting about the vaccine made by Moderna that contains similar ingredients and is expected to soon receive emergency use authorization, or E.U.A., from the agency.
What You Should Know About Covid Vaccines in Orange, California
“We anticipate that there may be additional reports, which we will rapidly investigate,” Dr. Fink said, adding that robust surveillance systems were in place to detect these rare events.
Still, Dr. Fink said that “the totality of data at this time continue to support vaccinations under the Pfizer E.U.A., without new restrictions.”
The F.D.A., he added, would work with Pfizer to revise fact sheets and prescribing information for the vaccine so that the public would understand the risk of allergic reactions and know how to report them.
But PEG is, generally speaking, inert and widespread. It’s found in ultrasound gel, laxatives like Miralax and injectable steroids, among other drugs and products, Dr. Blumenthal said. Despite the chemical’s ubiquity, she said, “I’ve only seen one case of a PEG allergy — it’s really, really uncommon.”
