What you need to know about allergic reactions to the vaccine: QuickTake

Healthcare workers administer Covid-19 vaccines at the Palace Care and Rehabilitation Center

Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui / Bloomberg

Like all new drugs, Covid-19 vaccines that have been licensed in Western countries come with some safety issues and side effects. Many people who received the first two photos taken, one of Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE and another from Moderna Inc., presented with fever, headache and pain at the injection site. These side effects generally go away quickly. Up to 10 people had a severe allergic reaction, called anaphylaxis, to vaccines.

1. What is anaphylaxis?

The body fights foreign invaders through a variety of mechanisms that include the manufacture of protective proteins called antibodies, the release of toxins that kill microbes, and the organization of guard cells to fight infection. As in any conflict, sometimes the effort to repel an infection can be harmful in itself. In rare cases, it can cause fugitive inflammation and swelling of the tissues in a severe allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. As much as 5% of people in the US had such a reaction to various substances. It can be fatal if, for example, a person’s airways become swollen, even though there are deaths rarely. Allergies to insect bites and food can cause it, although drug reactions are the most common cause of anaphylaxis deaths in the US and the UK

2. Where did the Covid vaccine cases start?

A December 19th The presentation at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention referred to two cases of anaphylaxis associated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the United Kingdom and six in the United States. Later in the month, in Israel, which carries the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, a man suffered anaphylactic shock an hour after receiving a blow, according to the Jerusalem Post. He said he had previous reactions to penicillin, the newspaper said. And a Boston doctor with a shellfish allergy reported having a anaphylactic reaction to the Modern vaccine. None of the reactions led to death.

3. Has anaphylaxis been linked to vaccines?

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