January 6, 2021

Allergic Reactions Including Anaphylaxis After Receipt of the First Dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine — United States, December 14 – 23, 2020

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Public Health Policy and Practice

Keywords (Tags): vaccines

Monitoring by the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System detected 21 cases of anaphylaxis after administration of 1,893,360 first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (11.1 cases per million doses); 71% of these occurred within 15 minutes of vaccination. 17 of 21 anaphylaxis episodes were among persons with a documented history of allergies or allergic reactions, 7 of whom had a history of anaphylaxis. All 20 people with follow-up information available recovered or were discharged home. The CDC COVID-19 response team recommends that locations administering COVID-19 vaccines have supplies available to manage anaphylaxis, implement post-vaccination observation periods, and immediately treat suspected cases of anaphylaxis with intramuscular injection of epinephrine.

CDC COVID-19 Response Team. (2021). Allergic Reactions Including Anaphylaxis After Receipt of the First Dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine — United States, December 14 – 23, 2020. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7002e1.htm