Oregon health worker hospitalized after severe reaction to Moderna coronavirus vaccine

A Wallowa Memorial Hospital worker had a severe allergic reaction to an initial dose of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine this week, state health officials said Thursday.

The health worker has been hospitalized and continues to recover, according to a statement provided by the Oregon Health Authority. The agency did not say if the person had a history of allergic reactions.

This is the first time that state officials have reported a case of an Oregonian having a severe allergic reaction to a coronavirus vaccine since vaccinations began in mid-December.

The case is also notable because, until recently, only Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines were known to sometimes cause severe allergic reactions. The first known serious reaction to the Moderna vaccine occurred on December 24, according to the New York Times.

Federal health officials say there is a “small” chance that the Moderna vaccine will trigger a severe allergic reaction, usually within an hour of the vaccine. Normal reactions to the vaccine include pain at the injection site, fatigue, nausea, and headache.

A federal analysis of the Moderna vaccine found that those who received a vaccine did not appear to be more likely to have a severe reaction than those who did not. But, given that the vaccine was tested and approved in a considerably faster-than-normal timeframe, officials said future data may yet show otherwise.

“Surveillance will be essential to detect any rare serious adverse event that was not identified in the clinical trial,” the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices said earlier this month.

The health authority has urged people who have had severe allergic reactions to other vaccines to discuss with their doctors the safety of getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

About 38,700 Oregonians received their first dose of Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, including 68 in Wallowa County. Moderna vaccines represent 12,054 of the doses administered, the health authority said.

At 529 doses administered per 100,000 population, Oregon has one of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the country, according to data compiled by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

– Fedor Zarkhin; [email protected]; 503-294-7674