Pfizer COVID Vaccine Causes Severe Reactions in Allergic People

The FDA has just approved a vaccine created by Turkish husband and wife team, Drs. Ugur Sahin & Ozlem Tureci of BioNTech, for distribution in the USA. The Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has undergone a clinical trial but there is little knowledge about long-term effects of the vaccine or the types of reactions that can occur after taking it. The duration of protection against COVID-19 by the vaccine is largely unknown.

Great Britain was the first to approve Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine during the first week of December. The vaccine was approved on the basis that it prevented 90% of COVID infections in the 20,000 people that were given it.

This week, two UK health workers had severe allergic reactions to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. The severe reaction was anaphylactic, which means that the vaccine affected the individual’s ability to breathe and may have resulted in other symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and swelling. Anaphylactic shock can be fatal and immediately result in unconsciousness and death. People with extremely severe allergies can experience anaphylactic shock by merely touching, tasting or inhaling their allergen.

The two workers have a history of food and environmental allergies, which includes lime, eggs, cheesecake, lemons, and certain drugs. Individuals with a history of allergies are now being warned about potential severe reactions that could occur if injected with the vaccine.

How was the vaccine administered?

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is injected into an individual’s muscle and administered in two doses over three weeks.

Medical and health experts are pleading to know what could have caused such a severe allergic reaction in these two individuals?

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine contains a cocktail of fats, salts, sugar and nucleosidimodified messenger RNA (modRNA). Contained in the mRNA is the viral spike of what we call COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2). This is responsible for delivering the code to the cell.

Full Ingredients of Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine:

mRNA, lipids ((4-hydroxybutyl)azanediyl)bis(hexane-6,1-diyl)bis(2-hexyldecanoate), 2 [(polyethylene glycol)-2000]-N,N-ditetradecylacetamide, 1,2-Distearoyl-sn-glycero-3- phosphocholine, and cholesterol), potassium chloride, monobasic potassium phosphate, sodium chloride, dibasic sodium phosphate dihydrate, and sucrose.

What side effects can be had after taking the COVID-19/BioNTech vaccine?

Along with Anaphylaxis, these are other side effects of the the first Covid-19 vaccine to be approved by the FDA:

injection site pain • tiredness • headache • muscle pain • chills • joint pain • fever • injection site swelling • injection site redness • nausea • feeling unwell • swollen lymph nodes

Did authorities move too quickly in approving this particular vaccine? Some would say yes, however, with COVID-19 rates continuing to rise, some medical authorities may have felt it was the only option to control the spread of the virus. Vaccines are not the only option nor should they be deemed as the sole answer for preventing this virus, especially considering that there is limited research available about the various Covid-19 vaccines.

There is one ingredient that stood out to me which may have resulted in the severe allergic reactions and that is the lipid, 2 [Polyethylene glycol- 2000]-N. Polyethylene glycol or PEG. The lipids in the vaccine are there to coat the mRNA in a protective manner.

Though PEGs are in every day body and skin care products, this synthetic chemical can be harmful in large amounts. Some people have contact sensitivity to the ingredient. Quite a few studies have confirmed reaction sensitivity to PEGs and have demonstrated a link between immediate allergic reactions and ingestion of polyethylene glycol (Girones et al, 2008; Lee et al., 2015; Wylon, Dolle & Worm, 2016). In 2015, a painter experienced a severe allergic reaction 20 minutes after ingesting a laxative solution containing PEG (Antolin-Amerigo, 2015).

It’s also possible that the culprit for the two health care workers immune response could be the mRNa. One thing is quite clear. More research will need to be conducted to determine how the vaccine affects people with allergies and hypersensitive immune systems.

Reference:

D. Antolin-Amerigo, M. J. Sánchez-González, J. Barbarroja-Escudero, M. Rodríguez-Rodríguez, A. Álvarez-Perea, M. Alvarez-Mon, Allergic reaction to polyethylene glycol in a painter, Occupational Medicine, Volume 65, Issue 6, August 2015, Pages 502–504.

Girones, M. A., Roan, J. R., De La Hoz, B., & Cano, M. S. (2008). Immediate allergic reactions by polyethylene glycol 4000: two cases. Allergologia et immunopathologia, 36(2), 110-112.

Lee, S. H., Cha, J. M., Lee, J. I., Joo, K. R., Shin, H. P., Baek, I. H., Jeon, J. W., Lim, J. U., Lee, J. L., Lee, H. M., & Cho, Y. H. (2015). Anaphylactic shock caused by ingestion of polyethylene glycol. Intestinal research, 13(1), 90–94.

Wylon, K., Dölle, S. & Worm, M. Polyethylene glycol as a cause of anaphylaxis. Allergy Asthma Clin Immunol 12, 67 (2016).