NORFOLK, Va. — After two people in the United Kingdom had an allergic reaction to the coronavirus vaccine, a local infectious disease expert said it's nothing for most people to worry about.
Thousands of people overseas have already received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
UK health authorities said people with a "significant history" of allergic reactions should not get the vaccine. This is after two people received the shot and had allergic reactions.
Norfolk's Eastern Virginia Medical School Infectious disease expert Dr. Edward Oldfield noted the two people who had a reaction, recovered -- and that’s just two instances of severe side effects out of the thousands of people who got the shot.
“It’s unfortunate that people are focusing on these two episodes out of all the people that had it," Oldfield said. “And both people recovered so I don’t think it’s particularly an issue.”
According to the BBC, UK authorities said the two people who experienced allergies, have a history of allergic reactions and carry epi-pens.
Oldfield said severe side effects from vaccines are extremely rare.
“The estimate actually would be about one episode of an allergic reaction per million people vaccinated. That’s a pretty low risk," he said.
“If I had severe allergies to other vaccines, I might be a little more leery. But often those are about eggs and things like that, and there’s no egg in this one.”
He said it’s not uncommon to see mild side effects. For the COVID vaccine, people reported muscle aches and pain at the injection site.
“And you might feel fatigued but then that’s going to go away and you’re 95 percent protected from COVID," Oldfield said. “I think these are completely tolerable side effects and short duration.”
Oldfield said officials at Pfizer and Moderna tested the vaccine on thousands of people and there were no severe reactions.
“I can tell you that I’m going to be at the front of the line. I might even butt in the line if I could,” he joked.
Oldfield agreed, the coronavirus vaccine could be a game-changer, "if people take the vaccine.”
He said, “things are going to happen when you do vaccinate very large numbers of people it’s certainly in no way going to deter me from getting the vaccine.”
