IN a recent review, a team of allergists offer reassurance and guidance regarding allergic reactions to the Covid-19 vaccines The authors, led by allergists at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, conducted a detailed review of issues relating to allergic reactions to the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.
They conclude that reactions to vaccines are rare, and that even people with known food or medication allergies are safe to receive the vaccine under the right circumstances.
The paper, which appears in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, provides reassurance about the vaccines’ safety.
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Since the emergence and rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 and its corresponding disease Covid-19, teams of scientists worldwide have been funneling their energies into developing safe and effective vaccines.
Without these vaccines, governments have had to implement emergency measures, such as physical distancing and periodic lockdowns. These have had a profoundly disruptive effect on society, the economy, and people’s everyday lives.
To date, two vaccines have received approval for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA): One from Pfizer-BioNTech, and the other by Moderna. Both vaccines involve a cutting-edge approach based on mRNA technology.
Studies show that the vaccines are highly effective, conferring 95% and 94% immunity after two doses, respectively.
However, since the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine’s roll-out in the United Kingdom, there were reports of two allergic reactions to the vaccine.
A vaccine is only effective if people are willing to take it, so ensuring confidence in their safety is crucial. With this in mind, the allergists who penned the new article investigated the details of allergic reactions to vaccines.
They offer guidance on who can safely take the vaccine, what screening questions healthcare professionals should ask, and how a person who has an allergic reaction to the vaccine’s first dose can most safely receive the second dose.
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The allergists point out that, in general, vaccines are incredibly safe, with only around 1.3 anaphylactic reactions per 1 million vaccine doses administered.
