A Boston doctor suffered a severe allergic reaction to Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine, the first of its kind documented, according to a report Friday.
Dr. Hossein Sadrzadeh, a geriatric oncologist at Boston Medical Center, became dizzy and felt his heart beat minutes after receiving the vaccine Thursday, he told The New York Times.
“It was the same anaphylactic reaction I experience with seafood,” Dr. Sadrzadeh told the newspaper, noting that his tongue fell asleep, his blood pressure dropped and he sweated cold.
“I don’t want anyone to pass it up.”
Sadrzadeh self-administered an EpiPen that he carried in case of a reaction and was discharged after a brief emergency examination, according to the report.
Although a handful of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine recipients have reported allergic reactions to this inoculation (including a New York City health worker), Sadrzadeh’s symptoms mark the first known reaction of its severity to except for Modern.
Vaccines, which have similar ingredients, require two shots administered within a few weeks.
Neither Moderna nor the Federal Food and Drug Administration, which approved the vaccines, commented on the Times report.