Two Brits have had severe allergic reactions after being inoculated with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine reports USA Today:
Two British people with severe allergies apparently had allergic reactions to Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, raising questions about whether it is safe for people with preexisting allergies.
In response, British regulators advised those with severe allergies to avoid the vaccine.
It was not immediately clear what triggered the allergic reactions. There are no preservatives or animal products in the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which have been known to trigger reactions with other types of vaccines.
Allergic reactions were not a significant problem in the U.S. trial in which more than 20,000 people have received both two doses of the vaccine, but the U.S. trials probably kept out subjects who have had severe allergic reactions, said Moncef Slaoui, co-head of Operation Warp Speed – the government program tasked with developing, manufacturing and distributing COVID-19 vaccines.
Here’s the key graf:
“If you start issuing recommendations that anyone with an EpiPen doesn’t get vaccinated, that could be a showstopper for Americans,” he said. About 3 to 4 million Americans carry epinephrine with them at all times in case of allergic reactions, Hotez noted, and 50 million have less severe allergies.
Pfizer’s stock dipped a bit on the news. We’re going to need to follow two different threads for the next several days—the adverse reactions of those in the UK getting the inoculations and the reactions of the media to the inevitable stories like this.
I don’t think US Today quite represented the U.S. trial accurately. Those who reported adverse events potentially representing allergic reactions:
0.63% of the vaccine group
0.51% of the placebo group
This is referred as a “slight imbalance,” worth recognizing, but they certainly don’t have enough data at this point to distinguish vaccine from placebo. Allergic to needles?
Nice discussion on this today with ID and allergy docs. They dont see this as particularly unusual. See a few with any new vaccine.
“Allergic to needles?”
Study should capture that by looking for signs of an immune mediated response. Most of those allergic to needle types are having vagal reactions or panic attacks.
Steve
@steve, you’re probably right. I also noticed this statistic from Pfizer:
Quitting trial immediately due to injection site pain:
0.3% vaccine group
0.2% placebo group
I suspect people joining vaccine trials are more resilient than average in terms of dedicating themselves to voluntary risk, and they’ve had “the conversation” with family and friends. But the moment itself might be quite overwhelming for a few.
Sticking needles into people is sometimes interesting. There is always a small group for whom it is the worst thing in the world. Not coincidentally I think, these people often have lots of tattoos. Then there are people with horrible veins or lesions that need lots of injections and they don’t even blink. Then I have had guys, always a guy, pass out at the sight of a needle. (Usually a special forces, cop, fireman type. ) people are endlessly fascinating.
Steve
Found out today we will get about 5000 vaccines with guaranteed second shot. No idea when more will come. Handing out in tiers based upon pt contact. Ethics committee deciding who will be in what tier with Tier being people with highest risk. Only thing we know for sure is we will put the lawyers in Tier 5. (Sorry PD) Of note, even though we ordered the special freezers as soon as we heard about the temp requirement none have arrived. We have 3 hospitals that already had the special freezers so the vaccines will go there first.
Steve
But it is written that the fifth shall be first and the first shall be fifth, once the definitions are properly illuminated.
Illinois’ Governor is not sending any vaccines to my county, instead sending it to the 50 counties with the highest death rate per capita, even though many of these counties send their COVID cases to regional medical hubs like this one that aren’t in the top 50 counties. Illinois is sending vaccines to gravesites, plus Chicago.
This stuff drives me crazy. Different rules for Chicago, but Chicago should get a lot of vaccines because that’s where a lot of patients are, which is what the rule should reflect.