Investigators mixed information from sufferers who sought allergy specialist care at their hospitals after a response to their first mRNA COVID-19 vaccine dose.
“These reactions could include symptoms such as itching or hives or flushing. The patients included were all advised by allergy specialists after their dose one reaction,” explains co-lead creator Matthew S. Krantz, MD, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Among 189 sufferers, 32 (17%) skilled anaphylaxis after their first dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. A total of 159 sufferers (84%) went on to obtain a second dose.
All 159 sufferers tolerated the second dose. Thirty-two sufferers (20%) reported rapid and extreme allergic signs linked to the second dose. But these had been self-limited, delicate, and/or resolved with antihistamines alone.
“One important point from this study is that these immediate onset mRNA vaccine reactions may not be mechanistically caused by classic allergy, called immediate hypersensitivity or Ig-E-mediated hypersensitivity.
Re-exposure to the allergen causes the same or even worse symptoms,” says co-senior creator Kimberly G. Blumenthal, MD, MSc, co-director of the Clinical Epidemiology Program inside MGH’s Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology.
It’s protected for most people to obtain a second dose of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, notes co-senior creator Aleena Banerji, MD, medical director of the Allergy and Clinical Immunology Unit at MGH.
“After first dose reactions, allergy specialists may be useful to help guide risk/benefit assessments and assist with completion of safe vaccination,” she says.
Source: Medindia
