A nurse based in Alaska reportedly suffered a severe allergic reaction after receiving her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19.
The middle-aged health care worker experienced an anaphylactic reaction about 10 minutes after receiving the vaccine at Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau, according to The New York Times. She experienced flushing and shortness of breath.
Dr. Lindy Jones, medical director for the hospital’s emergency department, said the nurse’s reaction subsided after she was treated with epinephrine. The doctor went on to say the nurse remains confident in her decision to receive the vaccination.
As of Wednesday, Jones said, the unnamed hospital worker “is healthy” and “doing well.”
The experience of the nurse in The Last Frontier is similar to the anaphylactic reactions felt by two health care workers in Britain.
According to a report from Reuters, officials in the U.K. initially determined anyone with a history of significant allergic reactions to vaccinations, medications, or certain kinds of foods should not receive the COVID-19 vaccine. They later revised the warning, noting food allergies do not pose a risk to those seeking inoculation.
Pfizer excluded people with a history of severe reactions to vaccines or ingredients in the pharmaceutical company’s new COVID-19 immunization formula from its late-stage trials.
The handful of reactions are certain to prompt federal officials to keep an eye out for anyone susceptible to adverse reactions.
Regardless, President Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed — the initiative that has partially funded and is assisting with distribution Of COVID-19 vaccinations — said it remains “on track” with its goal of inoculating some 20 million Americans by the end of December.