People with food and medicine allergies can take Covid-19 vaccines: MHRA

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) maintained that people with food and medicine allergies can take the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/Astra-Zeneca vaccines, Metro News reported.

The medicine watchdog stated that both Covid-19 vaccines are safe for people with a range of allergies. However, people allergic to certain compounds present in the vaccines should refrain from taking the vaccine shot.

Chief Executive of MHRA Dr June Raine said in a statement, “The only people who are advised not to have either of the vaccines are those with allergies who’ve had reactions to any of the ingredients. That’s very clear now.”

During the media brief, the MHRA confirmed that pregnant and breastfeeding women can be inoculated with either of the two approved Covid-19 vaccines “when the potential benefits outweigh the risks.” The MHRA added that the interval between two shots has now been increased to at least 21 days.

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This comes as the MHRA recently approved the use of the Oxford-Astra-Zeneca vaccine in the United Kingdom. The authorities may administer the first dose of it on Monday.

As the concerns over vaccine allergy rise, Dr. Raine tried to allay it and said: “The growing evidence from a pool of at least 8,00,000 people in the UK, and about 1.5 million in the US who have had Pfizer’s vaccine, have ‘raised no additional concerns.”

She stated, “This gives us the further assurance that the risk of anaphylaxis can be managed through standard clinical guidance and an observation period following vaccination of at least 15 minutes. And so the Commission on Human Medicines has now advised that anyone with an allergy to food or other medicine or vaccine can have the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.”

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Addressing the press, Chairman of the Royal College of GPs, Professor Martin Marshall, said, as quoted in the Metro News, “It is the glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel that we desperately need to get us through this difficult winter and ultimately overcome the virus.”