LONDON, UK – People with a “significant history of allergic reactions” should not be given the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, UK health authorities said Wednesday, after two health care workers experienced symptoms on the following day received a jab.
The warning came days after the pair had applied to the European drugs regulator for conditional authorization of their COVID-19 vaccine, following similar steps in the United States and Britain.
The two staff members — who both carried an adrenaline auto injector and had a history of allergic reactions — developed symptoms of anaphylactoid reaction after receiving the vaccine on Tuesday, as CNN reported.
Thousands overall were vaccinated in the UK on Tuesday, NHS England told CNN on Wednesday.
“As is common with new vaccines the MHRA [Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency] have advised on a precautionary basis that people with a significant history of allergic reactions do not receive this vaccination after two people with a history of significant allergic reactions responded adversely yesterday,” said Stephen Powis, the national medical director for NHS England, in a statement. “Both are recovering well.”
The MHRA issued new advice to health care professionals stating that any person with a significant allergic reaction to a vaccine, medicine or food — such as previous history of anaphylactoid reaction, or those who have been advised to carry an adrenaline autoinjector — should not receive the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine.
In a report last Sunday, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is said to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine within weeks, after the kingdom regulators granted emergency approval
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SOURCE: NEWS AGENCY
