Alaska health worker has a serious reaction after Pfizer’s vaccine

A health worker in Alaska had a serious allergic reaction after getting Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine Tuesday and was hospitalized, according to three people familiar with official reports of the person’s health. The person is in stable condition.

Government officials were scrambling Wednesday to learn more about the case. It was not immediately clear if the worker had a history of allergies, which makes it difficult to assess the broader significance of the incident as millions of Americans are vaccinated over the coming weeks. The reaction was believed to be similar to the anaphylactic reactions that two health workers in Britain experienced after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine last week. Both of them recovered.

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The company’s US trial involving more than 40,000 people did not find any serious adverse events caused by the vaccine, although many participants did experience aches, fevers and other side effects. Severe allergic reactions to vaccines are typically linked to the vaccine because of their timing.

A Pfizer representative did not immediately comment on the case.

Pfizer officials have said the two British people who had the reaction had a history of severe allergies.

In the United States, federal regulators issued a broad authorization for the vaccine Friday to adults 16 years and older. Health care providers were warned not to give the vaccine to anyone with a “known history of a severe allergic reaction” to any component of the vaccine, which they said was a standard warning for vaccines.

But because of the British cases, Food and Drug Administration officials have said they would require Pfizer to increase its monitoring for anaphylaxis and submit data on it once the vaccine comes into use. Pfizer also said that the vaccine is recommended to be administered in settings that have access to equipment to manage anaphylaxis. Last weekend, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that people with serious allergies can be safely vaccinated with close monitoring for 30 minutes after receiving the shot.

Anaphylaxis can be life-threatening, with impaired breathing and drops in blood pressure that usually occur within minutes or even seconds after exposure to a food, medicine or even a substance like latex to which the person is allergic.