A Chicago area hospital abruptly stopped administering the coronavirus vaccine to its staff after four employees experienced reactions to receiving the vaccine.
What are the details?
Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville said that since the administration of the Pfizer COVID vaccine on Thursday, four staff members “experienced tingling and elevated heart rate shortly after the injection,” WMAQ-TV reported.
In response, the hospital has stopped administering the vaccine.
“As a precaution, we are temporarily pausing vaccines in Condell, which will allow us to better understand what may have caused these reactions,” the hospital said in a statement.
Meanwhile, lawyer Aurora Health, the organization that is part of Libertyville Hospital, warned that the reactions are not part of a bigger problem with the vaccine, highlighting the fact that they have administered thousands of doses with only the four reactions.
“These four team members represent less than 0.15% of the approximately 3,000 who have received vaccines so far at Advocate Aurora Health. At this time, we can share that three team members are at home and doing well, and one is receiving additional treatment, “the hospital system said, WLS-TV reported.
The stop, however, was short-lived.
On Saturday, the medical system said it would resume administration of the vaccination on Sunday, after making the necessary adjustments to post-vaccination observation times.
“Our on-site vaccination teams remain prepared to respond quickly and appropriately in the event that someone experiences some type of reaction,” a statement said, WFLD-TV reported. “With great caution, we have increased the post-vaccination evaluation period to 30 minutes for all people in all of our sites, which exceeds the CDC / ACIP recommendations.
Something else?
The Food and Drug Administration said Friday it is investigating adverse reactions to the vaccine.
Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biological Product Evaluation and Research, said at a news conference that scientists do not know for sure what is responsible for allergic reactions, but pointed to polyethylene. glycol as the possible “culprit”.
The ingredient is present in both the Pfizer and the Modern vaccine.
However, health experts say that allergic reactions do not mean that the vaccine is unsafe for Americans with allergies. In contrast, only those who have a history of allergic reactions to vaccines or who have any of the ingredients present in any of the vaccines should temporarily stop being inoculated.