A Boston doctor had a “severe” reaction just minutes after being vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine on Christmas Eve.
The New York Times reported that the response was the first of its kind related to the Moderna vaccine, which was rolled out in the United States last week.
What are the details?
Dr. Hossein Sadrzadeh, a geriatric oncologist at Boston Medical Center, immediately had a severe anaphylactic reaction after receiving the Moderna shot. Dr. Sadrzadeh told the Times the allergic reaction was the same one he experiences with shellfish.
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He said his heart rate had risen to 150 beats per minute within minutes of the injection of the vaccine at 3:30 pm, about twice the normal cadence; his tongue stung and went numb. Before long he was drenched in cold sweat and found himself feeling dizzy and faint. His blood pressure also plummeted, he said. His immune system, he realized, was in rebellion.
“It was the same anaphylactic reaction that I experience in crustaceans,” said Dr. Sadrzadeh. Dr. Sadrzadeh used his EpiPen and was taken to the emergency room on a stretcher, where he was given various medications, including steroids and Benadryl, to calm the immune responses that had caught up with his body. According to a report of his visit, he was “seen in the emergency room for shortness of breath, dizziness, palpitations and numbness after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine.”
“He has been taken to the emergency department, evaluated, treated, observed, and discharged. He is doing well today,” David Kibbe, a Boston Medical Center spokesperson, said in a statement.
What causes the reactions?
There have been numerous allergic reactions to coronavirus vaccines. The Food and Drug Administration said the week before Christmas that officials were investigating reactions that happened in several states with the Pfizer vaccine, which was rolled out a week prior to the Moderna vaccine.
While experts still aren’t sure what triggered the reactions, officials say the vaccines are safe.
Still, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued updated guidelines on the vaccine for Americans with a history of severe allergic reactions.
“If you’ve ever had a severe allergic reaction to an ingredient in a COVID-19 vaccine, the CDC recommends that you don’t get that particular vaccine. If you’ve had a severe allergic reaction to other vaccines or injectable therapies, you should doctor if you should receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Your doctor will help you decide if it is safe for you to get vaccinated, “the new guideline read.
Meanwhile, Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, identified polyethylene glycol as the potential “culprit” behind the responses.
The ingredient is present in both the Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine.
On Sunday, according to data from the CDC, more than 9.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been distributed across the US and nearly 2 million Americans had been vaccinated.