You "Should Not Get" COVID Vaccine If You Have This Condition, Says Fauci
In the battle against COVID-19, one of the most effective weapons we have are the vaccines that are currently being administered around the world. Nearly every major health organization from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the World Health Organization and health expert is encouraging everyone to roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated when it is their turn—well almost everyone. In fact, if you have one condition in particular, you should avoid the COVID-19 vaccine until further notice. Read on to find out what it is—and to ensure your health and the health of others, don't miss these Sure Signs You've Already Had Coronavirus.
Dr. Fauci Says You Should Not Get the Vaccine If You Have a History of Severe Allergic Reactions
Late last year, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical advisor to the President and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, revealed that anyone who has experienced severe allergic reactions should think twice before getting the COVID vaccine.
"What the Pfizer people are saying is that if you have a history of a severe allergic reaction, you should either not take this vaccine, or if you do take it, take it in the context of a place where if you do develop an allergic reaction, it could be readily and effectively treated," said Fauci in a CNBC Healthy Returns Livestream. Keep reading to see what the CDC says.
The CDC Says You Should Not Get the Vaccine If You Have Allergic Reactions to Vaccines
The CDC agrees, devoting an entire page to COVID-19 Vaccines and Allergic Reactions.
"If you have had an immediate allergic reaction—even if it was not severe—to a vaccine or injectable therapy for another disease, ask your doctor if you should get a COVID-19 vaccine. Your doctor will help you decide if it is safe for you to get vaccinated," they explain.
Additionally, those with an allergy to polyethylene glycol (PEG) or polysorbate should also avoid getting it. "These recommendations include allergic reactions to PEG and polysorbate. Polysorbate is not an ingredient in either mRNA COVID-19 vaccine but is closely related to PEG, which is in the vaccines. People who are allergic to PEG or polysorbate should not get an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine," they explain.
You Can Get the Vaccine If You Have These Types of Allergies
However, "if you have a history of severe allergic reactions not related to vaccines or injectable medications—such as food, pet, venom, environmental, or latex allergies—get vaccinated," they encourage. "People with a history of allergies to oral medications or a family history of severe allergic reactions may also get vaccinated."
Dr. Fauci Says If You Have General Allergies, Take This Advice
"Whenever you deal with a situation—with an intervention, as rare as it might be, you can never assure someone that they would not have an allergic reaction," Dr. Fauci told CBSN recently. "People who have a propensity to an allergic reaction, particularly anaphylactic reaction, have a greater likelihood of getting an allergic reaction to a vaccine. But if you look at the allergic reactions just recently reported in the scientific literature, there are between four and five per million vaccinations with the Pfizer and between two and three per million vaccinations with the Moderna. If you do have a history of allergic reaction—if it's an allergic reaction to something you definitely know is in the vaccine, you might want to wait for another vaccine, but if you just have an allergic person in general to foods and other things, you can get vaccinated, but you should do it in a situation where you're in a location where someone can handle and treat an allergic reaction, rather than having it in a place where if you do get an allergic reaction, there was no way for it to be treated, but it is an unusual, not rare occurrence based on the numbers that I just told you."
Dr. Fauci Wants You to Know the Vaccine is Safe
Nothing was compromised in the making of the vaccine and it is safe, says Dr. Fauci, despite being created in record time. "The speed was not at all at the sacrifice of safety. The speed was the reflection of extraordinary advances in the science of vaccine platform technology," Fauci told ABC's George Stephanopoulos. "So, people understandably are skeptical about the speed, but we have to keep emphasizing speed means the science was extraordinary that got us here," he said.
RELATED: If You Feel This You May Have Already Had COVID Says Dr. Fauci
Do Your Part to End the Pandemic
Bottom line: speak with your MD before getting the vaccine if you suffer from any allergies. So follow Fauci's fundamentals and help end this pandemic, no matter where you live—wear a face mask that fits snugly and is double layered, don't travel, social distance, avoid large crowds, don't go indoors with people you're not sheltering with (especially in bars), practice good hand hygiene, get vaccinated when it becomes available to you, and to protect your life and the lives of others, don't visit any of these 35 Places You're Most Likely to Catch COVID.
