December 27, 2020/Charles Betzler/Last Updated December 27, 2020
Doctors and scientists are investigating the reason behind several severe allergic reactions to COVID-19 vaccines. Thus far just over 1 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been administered. Anaphylaxis was not reported during clinical trials for either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna versions.
According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of December 19, six people who received the Pfizer vaccine in the United States developed anaphylaxis, which is an acute allergic reaction that can be life-threatening without medical intervention. On Friday, December 24, a doctor in Boston with a shellfish allergy, who received the Moderna vaccine, suffered an anaphylactic reaction immediately after being vaccinated. There have been two anaphylactic reactions in the U.K. Although anaphylactic reactions are a possibility with any vaccine, they are exceedingly rare, with a frequency of 1 e