CDC reports severe allergic reactions from COVID-19 vaccinations rare
While nearly 2 million people were vaccinated against COVID-19 during a 10-day period in December, only 21 experienced severe allergic reactions, officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Wednesday.
Most of those people had a history of allergies or allergic reactions, and for the 20 people the CDC followed up with, all had recovered and been sent home.
Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, stressed allergic reactions are an “exceedingly rare” occurrence.
“Of course, we all would hope that any vaccine would have zero adverse events, but even at 11 cases per million doses administered, it’s a very safe vaccine,” she said.
The risks of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19 are much higher, Messonnier said, with more than 2,000 people dying per day.