Allergic reactions bring UK probe
Regulators seek if vaccine caused illness in 2 people
LONDON — Britain’s medical regulator warned Wednesday that people with a history of serious allergic reactions shouldn’t get the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech, and investigators looked into whether two reactions on the first day of the U.K.’s vaccination program were linked to the shot.
The advice was issued on a “precautionary basis,” and the people who had the reactions had recovered, said professor Stephen Powis, medical director for National Health Service in England.
Pfizer and BioNTech said they were working with investigators “to better understand each case and its causes.”
Meanwhile, as states prepare to begin months of vaccinations, a new poll finds only about half of Americans are ready to roll up their sleeves when their turn comes.
The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows about a quarter of U.S. adults aren’t sure if they want to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. Roughly another quarter say they won’t.
Many on the fence have safety concerns and want to watch how the initial rollout fares skepticism that could hinder the campaign against the scourge that has killed nearly 290,000 Americans.
Experts estimate at least 70% of the U.S. population needs to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, or the point at which enough people are protected that the virus can be held in check.
“Trepidation is a good word. I have a little bit of trepidation toward it,” said
Kevin Buck, a 53-year-old former Marine from Eureka, California.
Buck said he and his family will probably get vaccinated eventually, if initial shots go well.
“It seems like a little rushed, but I know there was absolutely a reason to rush it,” he said of the vaccine, which was developed with remarkable speed, less than a year after the virus was identified. “I think a lot of people are not sure what to believe, and I’m one of them.”
Amid a frightening surge in COVID-19 that promises a bleak winter across the country, the challenge for health authorities is to figure out what it will take to make people trust the shots that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious-disease expert, calls the light at the end of the tunnel.
Also on Wednesday,
Canada’s health regulator approved the vaccine, with Dr. Supriya Sharma, chief medical adviser at Heath Canada, calling it “a momentous occasion.”
Canada is set to receive up to 249,000 doses this month, and Canadian officials expect to start administering them next week as soon after they are shipped from Belgium on Friday.
In Britain, the nation’s Medical and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has said people should not receive the shot if they have had a significant allergic reaction to a vaccine, medicine or food, such as those who have been told to carry an adrenaline shot — such as an EpiPen or other similar devices — or others who have had potentially fatal allergic reactions.
The medical regulator also said vaccinations should be carried out only
in facilities that have resuscitation equipment.
Such advice isn’t uncommon; several vaccines already on the market carry warnings about allergic reactions, and doctors know to watch for them when people who’ve had reactions to drugs or vaccines in the past are given new products.
The two people who reported reactions were NHS staff members who had a history of significant allergies and carried adrenaline shots.
Both had serious reactions but recovered after treatment, the NHS said.
Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the school of public health at Brown University, said he would advise patients who have had severe allergic reactions to other medicines or foods to delay vaccination if they can while the two cases in the U.K. are investigated.
He would extend that advice to people who carry EpiPens.
“The cautionary approach is to say to people who have had severe reactions to other things, ‘just hold,’ ” Jha said, adding: “There is going to be a deep dive into these two people who got an allergic reaction” to the vaccine.
In the survey of 1,117 American adults conducted Dec. 3-7, about 3 in 10 said they are very or extremely confident that the first available vaccines will have been properly tested for safety and effectiveness. About an equal number said they are not confident. The rest fell somewhere in the middle.
Experts have stressed that no corners were cut during development of the vaccine, attributing the speedy work to billions in government funding and more than a decade of behind-the
scenes research.
Among those who don’t want to get vaccinated, about 3 in 10 said they aren’t concerned about getting seriously ill from the coronavirus, and around a quarter said the outbreak isn’t as serious as some people say.
About 7 in 10 of those who said they won’t get vaccinated are concerned about side effects.
Among Americans who won’t get vaccinated, the poll found 43% are concerned the vaccine itself could infect them; something that’s scientifically impossible because the shots don’t contain any virus.
Even in nonemergency situations, health authorities must closely monitor new vaccines and medications because studies in tens of thousands of people can’t detect a rare risk that would affect 1 in 1 million.