COVID-19 vaccine-associated anaphylaxis: A statement of the World Allergy Organization Anaphylaxis Committee
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Vaccines against COVID-19 (and its emerging variants) are an essential global intervention to control the current pandemic situation. Vaccines often cause adverse events; however, the vast majority of adverse events following immunization (AEFI) are a consequence of the vaccine stimulating a protective immune response, and not allergic in etiology. Anaphylaxis as an AEFI is uncommon, occurring at a rate of less than 1 per million doses for most vaccines. However, within the first days of initiating mass vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine BNT162b2, there were reports of anaphylaxis from the UK and USA. More recent data implies an incidence of anaphylaxis closer to 1:125,000 doses with respect to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. In this position paper, we discuss the background to reactions to the current COVID-19 vaccines and relevant steps to mitigate against the risk of anaphylaxis as an AEFI. We propose a global surveillance strategy led by allergists in order to understand the potential risk and generate data to inform evidence-based guidance, and thus provide reassurance to public health bodies and members of the public.
Date Issued
2021-02-03
Date Acceptance
2021-01-26
Citation
The World Allergy Organization Journal, 2021, 14 (2)
ISSN
1939-4551
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
The World Allergy Organization Journal
Volume
14
Issue
2
Copyright Statement
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf ofWorld Allergy Organization. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Identifier
PII: S1939-4551(21)00011-9
Subjects
Adverse event following immunization
Anaphylaxis
COVID-19
polyethylene glycol
vaccine
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 100517
Date Publish Online
2021-02-03