100 high-risk allergy patients to get COVID-19 vaccine at Sheba Friday

Until now, people with severe allergies were turned away from health clinics because they could have severe reactions to receiving a coronavirus vaccine

By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN
Updated: FEBRUARY 4, 2021 19:18
A vial of the Pfizer vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is seen as medical staff are vaccinated at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel (photo credit: REUTERS/AMIR COHEN/FILE PHOTO)
A vial of the Pfizer vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is seen as medical staff are vaccinated at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel
(photo credit: REUTERS/AMIR COHEN/FILE PHOTO)
Some 100 Israelis with severe allergies will be vaccinated for the first time at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer on Friday as part of a pilot program.
Until now, people with severe allergies were turned away from health clinics because they could have serious reactions to receiving a coronavirus vaccine, including going into anaphylactic shock that can be deadly if not treated right away.
According to Prof. Nancy Agmon-Levin, head of the Clinical Immunology, Angioedema and Allergy Unit, Lupus and Autoimmune Diseases Clinic at Sheba, there are so far more allergic reactions to coronavirus vaccines than traditional vaccines. She said that on average, one in a million experience allergic reactions to being vaccinated, but with these new coronavirus vaccines that percentage is more like one in 100,000.
“This has created a lot of buzz and worry by many patients, so we decided to help them,” she said.
“There have been quite a few reactions to the vaccine,” she said, noting that this includes 21 known cases of anaphylactic shock and many more “immediate reactions” – allergy-related side effects that occur within 10 minutes to four hours after inoculation.
In Israel, she said there have been at last count 63 allergic reactions out of 1,590,000 people vaccinated. Two people went into anaphylactic shock.
“But many patients who are immunized do not report their immediate reactions,” she said, so there could be many more.
Immediate reactions include shortness of breath, swelling of the tongue, lips or throat, rashes or other minor symptoms that are a direct result of an allergy to the vaccine. She said that doctors still do not know exactly what is causing allergic reactions.
“We speculate that it is a component of the lipid layer that covers the vaccine and includes a component called polyethylene glycols or PEGs that we know can cause allergic reactions,” Agmon-Levin said. “But this is just an educated guess.”
PEGs are hydrophilic polymers that can be found in everyday products such as foods, cosmetics and medications, according to the National Institutes of Health.

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The pilot program will both address people who have a history of going into anaphylactic shock or who have had other severe reactions to vaccination, as well as those who had immediate reactions to the first dose of the vaccine.
The Health Ministry said on Thursday that anyone who became ill after receiving the first vaccination will not be able to be inoculated with the second dose, which health experts understand is necessary to develop maximum immunity.
The hospital will provide allergy patients with a protected environment, including a team of four experts who will be on call in case of any emergencies.
“We already have all the data on the patients and their specific histories and allergies,” Agmon-Levin explained.
In some cases, the patients were or will be treated with drugs prior to vaccination and in other cases, specific procedures will be followed to ensure they are safe. For example, a patient who has a severe latex allergy could be inoculated in the center. Although Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine does not contain latex, the funds where the vaccines are administered are not latex free, so for them, Sheba will create a latex-free environment.
In total, Agmon-Levin said that 200 people – medical personnel and Sheba patients – would be part of the pilot program, and if successful, the hospital will both share its findings with other medical centers and health funds and potentially expand the program to the public.
She added that "most allergic patients can be vaccinated regularly" and that the Sheba program is only for patients at very high risk, according to the recommendations of the Israel Association of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.


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