COMMENT | Can people with allergies take Covid-19 vaccine?
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COMMENT | As we implement our national Covid-19 vaccination programme, those of us who are healthcare professionals have numerous friends and acquaintances asking about the safety of the Covid-19 vaccines. In particular, the risk of taking the vaccine if we have a history of allergies.
It is recognised that some individuals get a rare, serious side effect, ie a severe allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. This can occur after taking a drug, a bee sting, eating certain types of food, etc and not just with vaccines - we often never know who is going to react in this way.
This is a brief article to help us understand that there will be some expected deaths after receiving Covid-19 vaccination, especially in the elderly. The aim of the article is to pre-empt the anti-vaccine lobby and any attempt to damage our national Covid-19 vaccination programme. We will use data from the United Kingdom (UK), United States (US) and the European Union (EU) to explain what we mean.
The US reported a death rate for people aged 65 years and older in 2019 as 3,917 per 100,000 population (1,765 per 100,000 for those aged 65-74 years, 4,308 for 75-84 years and 13,229 for 85 years and over). The commonest cause of death for people 65 years and older in the US and EU was heart disease, stroke (cerebral vascular disease), cancer and chronic lower respiratory disease; very similar to what occurs in Malaysia.
It s nearly launch time for COVAX, the United Nations unprecedented program to deploy COVID-19 vaccines for hundreds of millions in need around the globe. More than two months after countries like Britain and the United States started immunising their most vulnerable people, the U.N. s health agency gave its approval Monday to a vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, which should trigger the release of hundreds of millions of doses by COVAX. COVAX missed its own target of starting vaccination in poor countries at the same time as immunisations were rolled out in rich countries, and numerous developing countries have signed their own deals to buy vaccine, fearing the program won t deliver.
One week ago, Sovah Health was actively treating 40 patients infected with COVID-19. Today, Sovah is reporting 58 patients between its two hospital campuses, the most admitted at one time since the dawn of the pandemic.
In an attempt to stifle what officials are calling another Christmas surge, Sovah received 975 doses of Pfizer s COVID-19 vaccine each at its Danville and Martinsville hospitals Dec. 15.
However, after a Sovah nurse had an allergic reaction to the vaccine this week, officials recommended bringing an EpiPen to each of the Pfizer vaccine s two dosage sessions. Officials also warned of other potential side effects. Headache, fever and chills are possible, body aches, myalgiasâit s important that people note these side effects are possible so there s not a panic if they start to arrive, said Sheranda Gunn-Nolan, chief medical officer. They re more likely to have those symptoms after the second dose.