A Boston doctor had a “severe” reaction minutes after he was inoculated with the Moderna vaccine on Christmas Eve.
The New York Times reported that the reaction was the first of its kind to be linked to the Moderna vaccine, which was launched in the United States last week.
What are the details?
Dr. Hossein Sadrzadeh, a geriatric oncologist at Boston Medical Center, had a severe anaphylactic reaction immediately after receiving the Modern shot. Dr. Sadrzadeh told the Times that the allergic reaction was the same as the one he was experiencing with shellfish.
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He said that within minutes of injecting the vaccine at 3:30 p.m., his heart rate increased to 150 beats per minute, about twice the normal rate; his tongue froze and he fell asleep. Soon, he was wet with a cold sweat and felt dizzy and fainted. His blood pressure also dropped, he said. He realized that his immune system was in turmoil.
“It was the same anaphylactic reaction I experience with shellfish,” said Dr. Sadrzadeh. Dr. Sadrzadeh used EpiPen and was taken on a stretcher to the emergency room, where he was given several medications, including steroids and Benadryl, to calm the immune reactions that had overwhelmed his body. A report from his visit said he was “seen in an emergency for difficulty breathing, dizziness, palpitations and numbness after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine.”
“He was taken to the Emergency Department, evaluated, treated, observed and discharged. He is doing well today,” Boston Medical Center spokesman David Kibbe said in a statement.
What causes the reactions?
There have been numerous allergic reactions to coronavirus vaccines. The Food and Drug Administration said a week before Christmas that officials were investigating reactions in several states to the Pfizer vaccine, which was released a week before the Moderna vaccine.
Although experts are still unsure of what triggered the reactions, officials say the vaccines are safe.
However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued updated vaccine guidelines for Americans with a history of severe allergic reactions.
“If you have ever had a severe allergic reaction to any ingredient in a COVID-19 vaccine, the CDC recommends that you do not get that specific vaccine. If you have had a severe allergic reaction to other vaccines or injectable therapies, you should ask your doctor if you should be given a COVID-19 vaccine. Your doctor will help you decide if it is safe to get vaccinated, “says the new guideline.
Meanwhile, Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biological Assessment and Research, has identified polyethylene glycol as a potential “culprit” behind the reactions.
The ingredient is present in both the Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine.
By Sunday, more than 9.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been distributed in the United States and nearly 2 million Americans had been inoculated, according to CDC data.