COVID vaccination can be performed in patients with a history of allergic reactions to the vaccines or their components: experience from a specialist clinic in South Australia.
Intern Med J
; 52(11): 1884-1890, 2022 11.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1978479
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The development of vaccines against SARS-CoV2 has been a key public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, since their introduction, there have been reports of anaphylactic reactions to vaccines in individuals with history of allergic reactions to other vaccines, excipients or to COVID vaccines.AIM:
A dedicated adult COVID vaccine allergy clinic with a standardised allergy testing protocol was set up to investigate safety and suitability of available COVID vaccines in Australia.METHODS:
Patients referred to a state-wide COVID-19 vaccine allergy clinic between March and August 2021 with a history of allergy underwent skin-prick testing and intradermal testing to both available vaccine formulations (BNT162b2 and ChAdOx1-S), excipients (polyethylene glycol and polysorbate 80), excipient-containing medications and controls. Basophil activation testing was conducted in few subjects with convincing history of immediate type reactions.RESULTS:
Fifty-three patients underwent testing for possible excipient allergy (n = 19), previous non-COVID vaccine reaction (n = 13) or previous reaction to dose 1 of COVID-19 vaccine (n = 21). Patients were predominantly female (n = 43, 81%), aged 18-83 (median 54) years. Forty-four patients tested negative and 42 of these received at least their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Nine patients tested positive to excipients or excipient-containing medication only (n = 3), or vaccines (n = 6). Five patients were positive to just BNT162b2, 3/5 have been vaccinated with ChAdOx1-S. One who was skin test positive to both vaccines, but negative BAT to ChAdOx1-S was successfully vaccinated with ChAdOx1-S.CONCLUSION:
Even in a high-risk population, most patients can be vaccinated with available COVID-19 vaccines. This paper reports local experiences using a combined allergy testing protocol with skin testing and BAT during the pandemic.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19 Vaccines
/
COVID-19
/
Anaphylaxis
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
Topics:
Vaccines
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
/
Young adult
Country/Region as subject:
Oceania
Language:
English
Journal:
Intern Med J
Journal subject:
Internal Medicine
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Imj.15888
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