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COVID-19 vaccine-associated anaphylaxis: A statement of the World Allergy Organization Anaphylaxis Committee Open Access (recommended)

Descriptions

Resource type(s)

Article

Keyword

Adverse event following immunization
Anaphylaxis
COVID-19
Polyethylene glycol
Vaccine

Rights

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States

Creator

Turner, Paul J.
Ansotegui, Ignacio J.
Campbell, Dianne E.
Cardona, Victoria
Ebisawa, Motohiro
El-Gamal, Yehia
Fineman, Stanley
Geller, Mario
Gonzalez-Estrada, Alexei
Greenberger, Paul Allen
Leung, Agnes S. Y.
Levin, Michael E.
Muraro, Antonella
Borges, Mario Sanchez
Senna, Gianenrico
Tanno, Luciana K.
Thong, Bernard Yu-Hor
Worm, Margitta
WAO Anaphylaxis Committee

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 United Kingdom and United States. More recent data imply an incidence of anaphylaxis closer to 1:200,000 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.

Original Bibliographic Citation

Turner PJ, Ansotegui IJ, Campbell DE, Cardona V, Ebisawa M, El-Gamal Y, Fineman S, Geller M, Gonzalez-Estrada A, Greenberger PA, Leung ASY, Levin ME, Muraro A, Borges MS, Senna G, Tanno LK, Thong BYH, Worm M, Comm WAOA. COVID-19 vaccine-associated anaphylaxis: A statement of the World Allergy Organization Anaphylaxis Committee. World Allergy Organization Journal. 2021;14(2):10.

Related URL

 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1939455121000119?via%3Dihub

Publisher

ELSEVIER

Date Created

2021-02

Original Identifier

(PMID) 33558825

Language

English

Subject: MESH

Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions
Anaphylaxis
COVID-19 Vaccines
Polyethylene Glycols

Subject: Geographic Name

Great Britain
United States

Subject: Name

World Allergy Organization

Acknowledgments

We thank Drs Sophie Farooque and Alessia Baseggio Conrado (London) for reviewing a draft of this manuscript.

DOI

10.1016/j.waojou.2021.100517

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