UK Issues Allergy Warning For COVID Vaccine
UK’s regulatory MHRA has said that anyone who has a history of anaphylaxis should not get the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
Last week, Britain's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) became the first in the world to approve the vaccine, developed by Germany's BioNTech and Pfizer. On Tuesday 8th December, Britain began mass vaccination of its population starting with the elderly and frontline workers. MHRA Chief Executive June Raine said in a statement, "Any person with a history of anaphylaxis to a vaccine, medicine or food should not receive the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine". They added that there had been two reports of severe allergy and one report of a possible allergic reaction. "Most people will not get an allergy. The benefits in protecting people against COVID-19 outweigh the risks . You can be completely confident that this vaccine has met the MHRA's standards of safety, quality and effectiveness." Pfizer and BioNTech said they were supporting the MHRA's investigation. On 9th December a top U.S. official said that Americans who have severe allergic reactions may not be given Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine until more details are available.
