Medical experts and government officials in Palm Beach County held a virtual COVID-19 town hall yesterday.
Attendees raised questions about side-effects and allergic reactions. Dr. Kitonga Kiminyo is an infectious disease physician. He says patients may notice expected vaccine side effects like sore arm, fatigue, or fever. "That’s self limited. It goes away in a day or two. And this was seen in the trials." Kiminyo says in rare cases, people with comorbidities may experience mild allergic reactions. The more severe anaphylactic reactions are not that common with the vaccine. "The more concerning situation is the life-threatening anaphylactic reaction for which we’ve only seen, since the vaccines have been out, 1 or 2 cases in about 100,000 people. With the COVID vaccine, that is still way below the frequency that we have seen people experience anaphylactic reaction from the flu vaccine." Kiminyo urges people who take the vaccine to continue preventive measures like wearing masks, hand washing, and social distancing.
Doctors in Palm Beach County Say COVID-19 Vaccine Allergic Reactions Very Rare
