Severe allergic reactions reported in the US after getting COVID-19 vaccine, but CDC says cases are rare

Severe allergic reactions reported in the US after getting COVID-19 vaccine, but CDC says cases are rare The CDC detected 21 cases of anaphylaxis in a pool of more than 1.8 million administered first doses, translating to about 11 cases per million doses. Adrianna Rodriguez USA TODAY

As more Americans continue to get vaccinated against COVID-19, U.S. officials continue to monitor for severe allergic reactions and other adverse events after getting the vaccine.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said early safety monitoring has detected 21 cases of anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction, after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

The cases were detected in a pool of 1,893,360 first doses administered from Dec. 14 to 23. This translates to 11.1 cases of anaphylaxis per 1 million doses, said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, in a media briefing Wednesday.

This is higher than the flu vaccine, which has an average outcome rate of 1.3 cases per 1 million doses. However, Messonnier said the rate of anaphylaxis in the COVID-19 vaccine is still considered a rare outcome.

“We all would hope that any vaccine would have zero adverse events, but even at 11 cases per million doses administered – it’s a very safe vaccine,” she said.

In 86% of the cases, symptoms began within 30 minutes of vaccination, and 81% of them occurred in people with a history of allergies or allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis events. Most of the patients who reported having this severe allergic reaction – 90% – were women. ...

 See:      CDC study