By amiller@businessinsider.com (Anna Medaris Miller for Business Insider
People with common allergies to foods or to things in the environment like pollen or dust probably don’t have to worry about having a serious reaction to the just-authorized Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, the US Food and Drug Administration said during a press conference on Saturday.
Even people who’ve had a severe allergic reaction to food or to something in the environment in the past should be OK to get the shot, Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said during the briefing. FDA said that people who are allergic to the shot itself or to one of its ingredients shouldn’t get it.
“We’re telling people that unless they’ve had a severe allergic reaction to the vaccine or one of its components, they can receive it,” Marks said.
FDA held the briefing to provide more information on Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, after clearing the shot late Friday for emergency use in people 16 and older. In authorizing the vaccine, the FDA said it’s generally safe and highly effective at preventing symptomatic cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
<p value="<amp-fit-text layout="fixed-height" min-font-size="6" max-font-size="72" height="80">The clarification for people with allergies came after two people in the UK with known, severe allergies had non life-threatening anaphylactic reactions soon after being injected with the vaccine. UK health officials said that people with a history of severe, or anaphylactic, reactions to vaccines, medicines, or food should not get the shot.The clarification for people with allergies came after two people in the UK with known, severe allergies had non life-threatening anaphylactic reactions soon after being injected with the vaccine. UK health officials said that people with a history of severe, or anaphylactic, reactions to vaccines, medicines, or food should not get the shot.“I just want to reassure the public that, although there were these few reactions in Great Britain, these we’re not seeing in the larger clinical trial data sets,” Marks said.
Source: Most people with allergies should get Pfizer’s coronavirus shot, according to the FDA (msn.com)
