[ad_1]
California’s top epidemiologist told health care providers on Sunday to stop using a batch of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine after “higher than usual” numbers had allergic reactions apparent in a San Diego vaccination clinic.
Dr Erica Pan, the state epidemiologist, said on Sunday that “out of extreme caution” providers should stop using the doses until federal, state and company authorities complete an investigation. .
California has received about 330,000 doses of the Moderna batch in question – about 10% of all vaccines, Moderna and Pfizer, which have been distributed in the Golden State, officials said.
The apparent allergic reactions occurred at the San Diego County mass vaccination site at Petco Park, California Department of Public Health spokesperson Darrel Ng said.
A “higher than usual” number of patients who received the vaccine appear to be suffering from allergic reactions. Their symptoms were severe and required medical attention, Pan said.
Dr Eric McDonald, San Diego County Director of Epidemiology, said in a live media briefing on Wednesday that operations at Petco Park had slowed after six healthcare workers who had just been vaccinated have had apparent allergic reactions.
“That number, put together, was slightly higher than expected for the period,” McDonald said. He said healthcare providers have swapped the batch of vaccines they are administering, “in the event” that reactions are related.
“Any vaccination, whether it is the COVID vaccination or the flu vaccination at your doctor’s office, should be given under medical supervision,” McDonald said. “In this case, with a new vaccine, there are very specific guidelines that all sites administering that vaccine must follow.”
This includes monitoring patients after receiving the vaccine for at least 15 minutes, and longer in cases where patients have a medical condition that could lead to an allergic reaction.
The Petco Park site has the capacity to administer 5,000 strokes per day. It’s one of many mega-sites launched in California last week, including a similar clinic at Dodger Stadium which city officials say will soon have a capacity of around 12,000 shots per day.
No other cluster of issues, or individual issues, have been reported with Moderna Lot 041L20A, which has been distributed to 287 medical providers across the state, officials said. The batch arrived in California between January 5 and January 12.
“There are no immediate replacement doses during the break on top of the back orders expected to ship in the next few days,” the state said in a statement to medical providers.
Moderna did not immediately return a request for comment.
[ad_2]
Source link