Only 10 out of 4M vaccinated with Moderna vaccine had severe allergic reaction, CDC reports

SAN FRANCISCO -- Ten out of the more than four million people who got the first doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine had a severe allergic reaction, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC.

"In all the cases no one has died and it's been all treatable. Most of them occurred within the first 10 minutes," said Peter Chin-Hong, a UCSF Infectious Disease specialist.

Dr. Peter Chin-Hong says these cases are rare and added, "The allergic reaction are likely happening because the fatty bubble that incases the message and that messenger RNA vaccine might be an allergen to some people. But the good news is that it's not a lot of people," said Dr. Chin-Hong.

In the published report the CDC monitored people who were vaccinated from Dec. 21, 2020 through Jan. 10, 2020.

"They estimate in this most recent study that it's 2.5 people per a million people that would get this severe reaction. For the Pfizer vaccine which they recently published not this last one, the estimate is about 11 people per million," said Dr. Chin-Hong.

In San Francisco, the Chief of Emergency Medicine at Zuckerberg General Hospital has seen some of those cases.

"Itching, maybe feeling a little bit short of breath for a short period of time, but they resolve very quickly. Even if we need to give medication they are very rarely serious medications. They are things like Benadryl," said Dr. Christopher Colwell, Chief of Emergency Medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital

According to Dr. Colwell, out of 15,000 people they've vaccinated at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital less than 100 people have had an allergic reaction.

Last week, in Placer County, California, a person died shortly after being administered a COVID-19 vaccine. In a statement the Place County Sheriff Office said in part:

"Placer County Public Health and the Placer County Sheriff-Coroner Division were recently notified of the death of an individual who tested positive for COVID-19 in late December.

The individual was administered a COVID-19 vaccine several hours before their death on January 21st, 2021. The vaccine was not administered by Placer County Public Health. There are multiple local, state, and federal agencies actively investigating this case; any reports surrounding the cause of death are premature, pending the outcome of the investigation. Our thoughts are with the family of the deceased. VO: The CDC published this graph revealing which of the 10 people who had an allergic reaction to the vaccine had previous allergies."

"So far none of these kinds of deaths have been attached to the vaccine nor is there a biological reason for that occur that is linked to the vaccine itself," said Dr. Chin-Hong.

Luz Pena: "Is there a group of people who shouldn't get vaccinated?"

Dr. Peter Chin-Hong: "Actually, there is no group of people who shouldn't get vaccinated unless you're a child under the age of 16 with Pfizer or under the age of 18 with Moderna because that wasn't studied. Everybody else is fair game to get a vaccine."