Shortly after receiving the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday evening, a health care worker at the Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau, Alaska, developed a severe allergic reaction and had to be hospitalized overnight.
During a media conference on Wednesday, health officials said that the middle-aged woman had no history of allergies and had never suffered anaphylaxis, a serious and life-threatening allergy.
Officials from the Bartlett Regional Hospital said that all 96 of its employees who received the vaccine on Tuesday were observed 30 minutes after the injection. The woman who began feeling flushed into the observation time for about 10 minutes and took Benadryl, an antihistamine. However, her symptoms escalated to an elevated heart rate and shortness of breath, and she was sent to the emergency department of the hospital.
“She had a red, flushed rash over her face and torso,” Dr. Lindy Jones, the emergency physician who treated her, said during the briefing Wednesday. “I was concerned about an anaphylactic reaction.” Jones gave her an emergency injection of epinephrine.
For a brief period, her symptoms decreased, but then re-emerged. She was given intravenous epinephrine and transferred to the intensive care unit of the hospital, where she stayed overnight.
Jones said the woman did not necessarily require ICU resources, but added, “we are a small little hospital here, so if we are concerned about anyone, we put them in the ICU.”
The woman was off all drugs as of Wednesday morning, and was scheduled to be released Wednesday night.
In a statement, Pfizer confirmed that the company is collaborating with local health officials to evaluate the Alaska reaction and will closely track any reports indicating extreme allergic reactions following vaccination and if appropriate, update the labeling language.
“That hospital officials were able to identify the reaction and treat it appropriately “demonstrates that the vaccine safety monitoring system is strong and robust for handling the pandemic response,” Dr. Jay Butler, head of the Covid-19 response at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said.
The Alaska event, Butler said, is the only allergic reaction to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine recorded so far in the United States.
Since receiving the Pfizer vaccine last week, two health care staff in the United Kingdom suffered similar allergic reactions.
After the Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine for emergency use in the U.S., the regulatory agency said that individuals with a history of allergic reactions could talk about the vaccine with their physicians, but noted that there was insufficient evidence to indicate that other people with allergies could stay away from the shots.
Allergic reactions to vaccines or other drugs are unusual, but they do happen. In the event of serious reactions, any facility qualified to administer vaccines is fitted with emergency epinephrine (known to many as an EpiPen).
Health officials said, despite her reaction and subsequent hospitalization, the health care worker was excited that she got the vaccine, explicitly about the advantages it would potentially give her.
Butler, however, said that the woman would be advised to miss the second dose.
Source: NBC