Of the 1 million people who received the Pfizer vaccine against covid-19 in the United States, only 6 suffered from allergic reactions, a small number but higher than what usually happens with other vaccines, Moncef Slaoui, chief scientist of Warp operating speed.
“I don’t have an update for today, but the latest data is that there have been six allergic reactions to one million vaccinated people,” Slaoui told a news conference, recalling that the next updates will incorporate many more vaccines. because there are delays of several days in number.
Slaoui acknowledged that “this frequency (of allergic reactions) is higher than what could be expected from other vaccines” and that in the case of the Moderna vaccine, which was administered only a few days ago, no shocks were reported. anaphylactic. .
US authorities are in contact with pharmaceutical companies participating in the vaccine development program and are considering conducting clinical trials with volunteers prone to allergic attacks.
General Gustave Perna, the head of Operation Warp Speed (Maximum Speed) to obtain vaccines against covid-19 in record time, explained that so far more than 15 million doses of the two vaccines authorized by the Administration have been distributed. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and assured that by the end of the year, there will be five million.
However, Slaoui acknowledged that the injections “are slower than we expected”, although production and distribution generally meet the established forecasts.
US authorities expect to increase the vaccination centers available to priority members, such as health workers or the elderly, by about a thousand starting next week.
The fact that Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are designed to be administered in two doses complicates the inoculation process, which requires reserving doses, maintaining traceability and communicating between federal authorities, states, hospitals and vaccinated staff.
Those responsible for Operation Warp Speed, which has allocated billions of dollars to speed up the purchase of covid-19 vaccines, hope to vaccinate 100 million people before the end of March, with the help of pharmacies and other health centers. in front of the public to facilitate reaching the general population.
The second dose for those who started receiving the Pfizer vaccine on December 14 will start next week, with people already completing the immunization process that is 95% effective, based on clinical trials. .
Regarding the possibility that coronavirus strains detected in the United Kingdom and South Africa may complicate this process to combat the pandemic, Slaoui said that for now, the data “only suggests that the new strains are more infectious” and that there are no data. Definitely about that.