A Massachusetts doctor said he developed a severe allergic reaction after receiving Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine on Thursday – the first of its kind on record.
Dr. Hossein Sadrzadeh, a geriatric oncologist at Boston Medical Center, felt dizzy and developed a rapid heart rate within minutes of being vaccinated, according to The New York Times.
A Boston doctor said he developed a severe allergic reaction after receiving Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine on Thursday. He self-administered his EpiPen and recovered quickly. Serious allergic reactions from the vaccine remain a rarity, experts said. https://t.co/m9DNmwewXC
– The New York Times (@nytimes) December 25, 2020
Boston Medical Center spokesman David Kibbe said in a statement that Dr. Sadrzadeh “felt he was developing an allergic reaction and that he was allowed to administer his personal EpiPen himself. He was taken to the emergency department, evaluated, treated, observed and discharged. He is doing well today.”
Because of his shellfish allergy, the doctor brought his EpiPen to the appointment to inject the vaccine. Within minutes, his heart rate had risen to 150 beats per minute and his tongue was starting to sting before going numb.
In no time Sadrzadeh was drenched in cold sweat and felt like he was passing out. And his blood pressure dropped.
“It was the same anaphylactic reaction that I experience in shellfish,” said Dr. Sadrzadeh to the Times. “I don’t want anyone to go through that.”
While in the emergency room, he was given steroids and Benadryl to relax the immune response that had overwhelmed his body. A report from his visit indicated that he “had been seen in the emergency room because of shortness of breath, dizziness, palpitations and numbness after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine.”
Sadrzadeh was released from medical care four hours later and stated that he was in good health.
With more than a million injections already given to recipients across the country, a doctor says severe reactions are uncommon and shouldn’t trigger anxiety in most people.
“This should not deter people who are not clearly at increased risk,” said Dr. Merin Kuruvilla, an allergist and immunologist at Emory University.
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