Health officials in Alaska reported on Wednesday that a second health care worker had an adverse reaction 10 minutes after getting a Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. The health worker reportedly has no allergies.
The Juneau health worker began feeling flushed and short of breath on Tuesday, said Dr. Lindy Jones, the emergency room medical director at Bartlett Regional Hospital. She was treated with epinephrine and other medicines for what officials ultimately determined was anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction. She was kept overnight but has recovered.
U.S. health authorities warned doctors to be on the lookout for rare allergic reactions when they rolled out the first vaccine, made by U.S. company Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech. Britain reported a few similar allergic reactions a week earlier.
Unlike the British cases, the woman in Alaska has no history of allergic reactions.
Pfizer has said it will have about 25 million doses of the two-shot vaccine ready for the U.S. by the end of December. Initial supplies will be limited and reserved primarily for health care workers and nursing home residents, with other vulnerable groups next in line until the shots become widely available on-demand, something that will probably not happen until the spring.
