Scientists believe the compound polyethylene glycol – known as PEG – is responsible for the reported allergic reactions to the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Driving the news: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified six allergic reactions to the vaccine from the 272,001 doses given through December 19.
- No allergic reactions have been reported to the Moderna vaccine, which also contains PEG. The Food and Drug Administration said it will monitor the introduction of the vaccine “very closely,” WSJ said.
- The UK reported two serious reactions to the vaccine on December 8.
What they say: “What we’re learning now is that those allergic reactions are a little more common than the highly unusual ones we thought they were because people are exposed to polyethylene glycol in various pharmaceutical preparations,” said Peter Marks, director of Food and Drug. Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, per WSJ.
Worth nothing: “PEG has never been used in an approved vaccine before, but it is found in many drugs that have occasionally caused anaphylaxis,” said the journal Science writes.
- However, scientists say PEG-induced allergic reactions are uncommon and also suspect that people could have responded to another compound in the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
It comes down to: Scientists still argue that vaccination should continue despite suspected responses to PEG, although more data is needed.
- “We need to be vaccinated,” said Elizabeth Phillips, a drug hypersensitivity researcher at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Science. “We must try to contain this pandemic.”