Coronavirus Vaccines
CDC issues guidelines after reports of allergic reactions
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The present guidelines advise staying home for 14 days after the last contact with a person who has Covid-19.
PHOTO: ST FILE
WASHINGTON • The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it was monitoring reports of allergic reactions to the Covid-19 vaccination and made recommendations on how people with histories of allergies should proceed.
Anyone who has had a severe reaction to a Covid-19 vaccine should not get the second dose, the agency said, defining severe as needing the medication epinephrine or treatment in a hospital.
People who have had a severe allergic reaction to any ingredient in a Covid-19 vaccine should avoid the vaccine formulation containing the ingredient, CDC said.
Those with histories of severe allergic reaction to vaccines should consult their doctors about the Covid-19 shot.
People with severe allergies to food, pets, latex or environmental conditions and those with allergies to oral medication or a family history of severe allergic reactions could still get vaccinated, the CDC said on Saturday.
The US Food and Drug Administration is investigating around five allergic reactions that happened after people were administered Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine in the United States last week.
Last Friday, the FDA said the Moderna vaccine should not be given to individuals with a known history of severe allergic reactions to any components of the shot.
Pharmaceutical firms must be "very transparent" about the risks and benefits of vaccines, said the head of Asia's largest drugmaker Takeda.
Takeda, one of the world's biggest pharmaceutical firms, is not developing its own vaccine but has contracts with several firms to distribute their jabs in Japan and is also testing a virus treatment.
"We have to manage the situation well, be very transparent and extremely educative in the way we introduce products," said chief executive Christophe Weber.
"Medicines or vaccines are never perfect... there are always some side effects."
Mr Weber sees a chance that the Covid-19 inoculation could help push back the growing tide of uncertainty and outright opposition to vaccination worldwide.
"Vaccine hesitancy is strong, especially in some countries, but many vaccines are protecting against diseases that people never see," he said.
"Here it's different, everybody is seeing the impact of the coronavirus... so it could actually re-demonstrate the value of vaccines."
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
