California public health officials called for a pause on the distribution of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine due to a high number of allergic reactions in recent days.
What’s going on?
Dr. Erica S. Pan, California’s lead epidemiologist, recently said that the vaccine distribution should be paused “out of an extreme abundance of caution.”
“Our goal is to provide the COVID vaccine safely, swiftly and equitably,” said Pan in a statement. “A higher-than-usual number of possible allergic reactions were reported with a specific lot of Moderna vaccine administered at one community vaccination clinic. Fewer than 10 individuals required medical attention over the span of 24 hours. Out of an extreme abundance of caution and also recognizing the extremely limited supply of vaccine, we are recommending that providers use other available vaccine inventory and pause the administration of vaccines from Moderna Lot 041L20A until the investigation by the CDC, FDA, Moderna and the state is complete. We will provide an update as we learn more.”
- This happened after one community clinic saw several people suffer allergic reactions to the Moderna vaccine.
- Health officials said the vaccine rollout should be paused until an investigation into the batch of vaccines can be completed, according to The New York Times.
Allergic reactions can happen
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that severe allergic reactions are rare when it comes to the coronavirus vaccine.
- At the time of its announcement, there were only 11.1 cases per 1 million doses.
- The CDC said people should be screened ahead of time to avoid any severe reaction issues, which I wrote about for the Deseret News.
“Locations administering COVID-19 vaccines should adhere to CDC guidance for use of COVID-19 vaccines, including screening recipients for contraindications and precautions, having the necessary supplies available to manage anaphylaxis, implementing the recommended postvaccination observation periods, and immediately treating suspected cases of anaphylaxis with intramuscular injection of epinephrine.”
Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said the risks of COVID-19 are far too severe to avoid getting the vaccine, though.
- “The known and potential benefits of the current COVID-19 vaccines outweigh the known and potential risks, getting COVID-19,” Messonnier said. “That doesn’t mean, however, that we couldn’t see potential serious health events in the future.”