Of the 1 million people who have received the Pfizer vaccine against covid-19 in the US, only 6 have experienced allergic reactions, a small number but higher than what usually happens with other vaccines, says Moncef Slaoui, chief scientist of Surgery Warp Speed.
“I don’t have an update for today, but the latest data is that there are six allergic reactions in a million vaccinees,” Slaoui said at a press conference, recalling that the next updates will include many more vaccinees as there are delays in several days in the count.
Slaoui acknowledged that “this frequency (of allergic reactions) is higher than what one would expect from other vaccines” and that in the case of the Moderna vaccine, which has been administered for only a few days, there have been no reports of anaphylactic shocks. .
US authorities are in contact with pharmaceutical companies participating in the vaccine development program and are considering the possibility of conducting clinical trials on volunteers prone to allergic attacks.
General Gustave Perna, chief of Operation Warp Speed to obtain vaccines against covid-19 in record time, explained that more than 15 million doses of the two government-approved vaccines have been distributed to date Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and assured that there will be five million more by the end of the year.
However, Slaoui acknowledged that injections are “slower than we expected”, although production and distribution generally meet forecasts.
US authorities expect the number of vaccination centers available to priority members, such as health workers or the elderly, to increase by about a thousand from next week.
The fact that the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are designed to be administered in two doses complicates the inoculation process, which requires reserving single doses, maintaining traceability, and communication between federal authorities, states, hospitals and vaccinated staff.
Those responsible for Operation Warp Speed, which has committed billions of dollars to accelerate the purchase of covid-19 vaccines, hope to vaccinate 100 million people by the end of March, with the help of pharmacies and other health centers. face to the public to facilitate reaching the general population.
The second dose of those who started receiving the Pfizer vaccine from December 14 onwards will be delivered from next week, with which there will already be people who have completed the immunization process that is effective in 95% of patients. cases, based on clinical studies.
Regarding the possibility that the coronavirus strains detected in the UK and South Africa are complicating this process of fighting the pandemic, Slaoui assured that the data for now only suggests that the new strains are more contagious and that there is no data. final about it.