The 32-year-old doctor from the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) in Nuevo León is in intensive care.
The Mexican government is studying the case of a doctor with a history of allergies who is in intensive care for the development of encephalitis, an inflammation in the brain, after receiving the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine against covid-19.
“With the scientific evidence available from clinical trials of the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, no one has previously had encephalitis after the vaccine was applied,” the Ministry of Health (SSa) said on Saturday.
The government agency said the woman is a 32-year-old doctor from the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) in northern Nuevo León, where she received the drug this week.
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The doctor, SSa said, has a history of allergic reactions to drugs such as trimethoprim with sulfamethoxazole, an antibiotic that fights urinary tract infections.
Its initial diagnosis is encephalomyelitis, which is described as a brief but intense attack of inflammation in the brain, usually from a viral infection.
The woman had a skin rash, seizures, decreased muscle strength and respiratory distress within half an hour of administration.
“The reaction was detected in the specific observation area of the vaccination cell where the doctor received the vaccine,” SSa said.
Mexico is one of the first countries in the world to initiate vaccination against covid-19, but so far it has received only about 53,000 doses of the drug from Pfizer-BioNTech, all applied to medical staff.
The Mexican government, where the pandemic has caused more than 1.4 million infections and more than 126,000 deaths, has opted for early access to the vaccine.
The country has pre-purchase contracts for 34.4 million doses from Pfizer, 77.4 million from the British AstraZeneca, 35 million from China CanSino and 34.4 million from the Covax platform of the World Health Organization (WHO ).
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has promised to vaccinate all health workers against covid-19 by the end of January and “most” of its vulnerable population by April.
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Mexico will receive another batch of Pfizer vaccines on Tuesday, in addition to the fact that next week will be formalized the purchase of 12 million doses for three months, from January to March, from the Chinese company CanSino.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health (SSa) stated that it complies with the protocol “Alleged events attributable to vaccination and immunization” of the Federal Commission for Protection against Health Risks (Cofepris).
“The doctor is under observation and treatment by specialists in critical medicine to reduce the inflammation of the brain presented. The intensive specialized treatment will continue “, he concluded.