FDA Reveals New Side Effect of Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee has revealed another side effect of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for those with cosmetic facial fillers.

Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are both using the same technology in developing and producing their vaccines.

The two companies' vaccines were earlier granted emergency use authorization, but there have been reports of allergic and adverse reactions after the vaccinations.

Side Effect of Moderna's COVID-19 Vaccine

The FDA granted emergency use authorization to Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine just one week after the agency gave the same to Pfizer-BioNTech.

Both vaccines are administered twice. There were different reports of allergic and adverse reactions since the rollout of the vaccines.

Recently, the FDA advisory committee said that Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine could cause swelling and inflammation for people with cosmetic facial fillers, as per a FOX News report.

The committee also noted that several trial participants who have cosmetic facial fillers have already experienced the side effects.

In a published report of ABC7 on Thursday, a California-based dermatologist said the reaction was immunological.

"Your immune system which causes inflammation is revved up when you get a vaccine, that's how it's supposed to work. So it makes sense that you would see an immune response in certain areas where they see some substance that is not a naturally occurring substance in your body," Dr. Shirley Chi said.

But Chi noted that the side effects were easily treated by medical personnel.

Is the Side Effect Treatable?

Following the reports of different allergic and adverse reactions and other side effects of the COVID-19 vaccines, many are worried and plans not to get vaccinated.

However, Chi stressed that this should not stop people from getting the vaccine.

She said: "In these cases, the patients all had swelling and inflammation in the area that was given the filler. A couple of the patients had cheek filler six months prior to their vaccine and one patient had lip filler done two days after the vaccine. All were treated with steroids and anti-histamines and all of their reactions resolved."

Meanwhile, it is still unclear if these people who experienced side effects are already covered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) new guidelines.

It is stated in the guidelines that those who experienced allergic and adverse reactions from the first shot should not get the second shot.

Moderna's second shot will be given four weeks after the first shot, while Pfizer's second shot will be given three weeks after.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Dr. Francis Collins told The Associated Press that the two vaccines worked better than they hoped.

"Science is working here, science has done something amazing," he noted. The vaccines' early results showed that they are safe and effective.