U.S. Health Worker Reports Serious Allergic Reaction to Pfizer Vaccine

By Mary Anne R. (staff@latinpost.com) First Posted: Dec 16, 2020 09:27 PM EST

Student pharmacist Wilbur Quimba dilutes vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at University Medical Center of Southern Nevada on December 16, 2020, in Las Vegas, Nevada. UMCSN received its first allotment of the vaccine on Monday and began vaccinating its front-line workers treating patients with COVID-19, including staff from the hospital’s intensive care units and emergency department. The state has averaged 20 deaths from COVID-19 per day over the past two weeks. (Photo : Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

A health worker in Alaska had a serious allergic reaction after getting the first dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday. The health worker was then hospitalized based on three people familiar with the health worker's condition.

The said health worker was still under observation in the hospital on Wednesday morning, as reported by The New York Times.

Government officials were out on Wednesday trying to learn more about the reported case of serious allergic reaction.

The healthcare worker had no record of drug allergies. However, it was still unclear whether he or she suffered from other types of allergies.

COVID-19 Vaccine Allergic Reaction

Millions of Americans are seen to be vaccinated by the end of the year.

With this, it is likely to cause federal officials to be even more watchful for any signs of serious side effects.

The Alaska health worker's reaction was seen to be similar to the anaphylactic reactions to two health workers in Britain experienced after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine last week. Both of those two health workers in Britain recovered.

During Pfizer's trial in the United States, involving 40,000 people, it did not find any serious adverse effects caused by the vaccine.

However, many participants involved in the study experienced aches, fevers, and other side effects. The NY Times reported that severe allergic reactions to vaccines are usually linked to the vaccine due to their timing.

A Pfizer representative did not immediately comment on the report. Britain authorities initially warned against administering the vaccines to anyone with a history of severe allergic reactions. This was after the workers in Britain were reported to be ill.

The authorities then later clarified their concern and changed the wording from severe allergic reactions to particularly saying that it should not give anyone who has ever had an anaphylactic reaction to a food, medicine or vaccine.

They added that the type of reaction to a vaccine is very rare. Pfizer officials said that the British healthcare workers who had the reaction had history of severe allergic reactions.

The first patient to have an allergic was a 49-year-old woman who had a history of egg allergies. The other was a 40-year-old woman who had history of allergies to several different medications/ Both patients had EpiPen-like devices to inject themselves with epinephrine with such reactions.

Pfizer said that its vaccine does not contain any egg ingredients. The British officials also included a third patient, citing a possible allergic reaction but did not further explain it.

Meanwhile, in the United States, regulators released a broad authorization for the vaccine on Friday to adults 16 years and older.

U.S. health care providers were warned not to give the vaccine to anyone with known allergic reaction, as what the British officials did. They said that this was a standard warning for vaccines.

The Food and Drug Administration officials said that they would mandate Pfizer to increase its monitoring for anaphylaxis and submit data on it once the vaccine is available for use.

Tags Pfizer, healthcare workers, Allergic Reaction