Two people have had allergic reactions to Covid-19 vaccine, UK health chief says

One of the UK’s top medical officials has confirmed that two NHS workers with a history of serious allergy suffered an allergic reaction after receiving the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday.

Dr June Raine, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) told the Commons Science and Technology Committee that regulators were “looking at” the two cases.

Both staff members are understood to have had a history of allergic reactions – to the extent that they carried adrenaline auto-injectors with them.

The MHRA has since given precautionary advice to NHS trusts that anyone who has a history of “significant” allergic reactions to medicines, food or vaccines should not receive the jab from Pfizer/BioNTech.

One of the UK’s top medical officials has confirmed that two NHS workers with a history of serious allergy suffered an allergic reaction after receiving the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday. (Photo by Hugh Hastings/Getty Images)

Professor Stephen Powis, national medical director for the NHS in England, where both staff work, said: “As is common with new vaccines the MHRA 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.

“Both are recovering well.”

Dr Raine told MPs that careful plans had been made for “real-time vigilance” when monitoring side effects from vaccinations and that any updates to advice for patients would be communicated “immediately”.

“The role is before, during and after, and there is a true end-to-end looking from the scientific laboratory bench through to the patient who yesterday first received the vaccine,” she said.

Pfizer said the vaccine was “well tolerated” during the trials with “no serious safety concerns”.

A spokeswoman said: “We have been advised by MHRA of two yellow card reports that may be associated with allergic reaction due to administration of the Covid-19 BNT162b2 vaccine.

“As a precautionary measure, the MHRA has issued temporary guidance to the NHS while it conducts an investigation in order to fully understand each case and its causes.

“Pfizer and BioNTech are supporting the MHRA in the investigation.

“In the pivotal phase three clinical trial, this vaccine was generally well tolerated with no serious safety concerns reported by the independent Data Monitoring Committee.

“The trial has enrolled over 44,000 participants to date, over 42,000 of whom have received a second vaccination.”

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