Alaska health officials reported Wednesday that a health worker had a severe allergic reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine within 10 minutes of receiving an injection. She was treated overnight and kept in the hospital, but has recovered. (December 16)
Video transcription
DR. LINDY JONES: So yesterday at Bartlett Regional Hospital here in Juneau, Alaska, we rolled out our vaccine program for health professionals. We got one of our health workers to get the COVID vaccine. About 10 minutes later she felt flushed, so she took a Benadryl herself, sat around where we kept people after the vaccination, and felt a little short of breath. So then was transferred to the emergency room. I was concerned about an anaphylactic reaction. So gave her the standard treatment of a dose of subcutaneous – or excuse me, intramuscular epinephrine. And she responded immediately. And she is doing well. She is out of medication. She has no oxygen. We’re just watching her, so she’s back to baseline. I heard a little tired from the Benadryl we gave her.
DR. JAY BUTLER: So far this is the only case in the United States. However, that doesn’t mean that there won’t be more cases. So we will continue to monitor closely.
DR. ANNIE ZINK: At the moment we have no plans to change our vaccination schedule, our dosage, our regimen. This is all a nice part of what we were looking for and expecting and looking forward to. We ensure that healthcare providers are aware of this.