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A compound known as polyethylene glycol may be responsible for some of the allergic reactions seen in people given coronavirus vaccines, a top US Food and Drug Administration official said Friday.
At least three cases of anaphylaxis — a severe allergic reaction — have been reported in the first week of the rollout of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in the US, as well as two in Britain. All the reported cases in health care workers have been resolved with quick treatment, and doctors say allergic reactions can be expected with any vaccine.
Dr. Peter Marks, who heads the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in Friday evening’s news briefing that the FDA was investigating what component of the vaccine might cause an allergic reaction. He said the FDA was investigating five possible cases of an allergic reaction.
“It is known that one of the components that is present in both of the vaccines, polyethylene glycol, can be associated uncommonly with allergic reactions,” Marks said.
Those allergic reactions could be more common than previously thought, he added, saying that people are exposed to polyethylene glycol in pharmaceutical products including bowel preparations and laxatives.
“That could be a culprit here. And that’s why we’ll be watching very closely as we see the Moderna vaccine rolled out,” he said.
The FDA granted emergency use authorization to Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine Friday and required that administration sites keep treatments on-hand for anaphylaxis.
