Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
UK Issues Warning After 2 People Have Allergic Reactions To COVID Shot
The day after the U.K.'s mass vaccination campaign began, Britain鈥檚 medical regulatory agency warned that 鈥渁ny person with a history of significant allergic reaction to a vaccine, medicine or food鈥 should not receive the new Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The announcement came after two health-care workers reacted adversely to the shot. (Armus, 12/9)
Two of the first people vaccinated in the U.K. on Tuesday with the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE shot responded adversely to the injection, the country鈥檚 National Health Service said, prompting the regulator to issue new guidance warning those with a history of significant allergic reactions against having the inoculation. 鈥淏oth are recovering well,鈥 said Professor Stephen Powis, national medical director for the NHS. (Sugden, 12/9)
NHS England said in a statement that both of the medical workers who experienced anaphylactoid reactions to the Pfizer vaccine had a "strong past history of allergic reactions," and that both had recovered after treatment. "As is common with new vaccines the MHRA (U.K. drug regulator) have advised on a precautionary basis that people with a significant history of allergic reactions do not receive this vaccination after two people with a history of significant allergic reactions responded adversely yesterday," NHS national Medical Director for England, Professor Stephen Powis, said in the statement. (Reals, 12/9)
Dr June Raine, head of the MHRA, said it was only right to take this step now that "we've had this experience". Reactions like this are uncommon, but do happen with other vaccines, including the annual flu jab.Several thousand people were vaccinated on Tuesday in hospital clinics on the first day of the UK rollout of the new Covid jab. (Triggle and Schraer, 12/9)