[News] Moderna's COVID-19 Vaccine May Cause Skin Reactions

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Some people who receive Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine may develop an injection site reaction.

According to research published online in the New England Journal of Medicine, some people who receive Moderna's vaccine against COVID-19 can develop a reaction within a week of being vaccinated.

A minority of patients may experience a large, red, sometimes raised, itchy skin reaction, according to researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston.

Although the reaction was seen in clinical trials, it shouldn't deter people from getting Moderna's vaccine, the study authors said.

"Whether you've experienced an immediate injection site rash or this delayed skin reaction, no condition should prevent you from receiving the second dose of the vaccine," said the study author and co-director of the Clinical Epidemiology Program at the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology of MGH, Dr. Kimberly Blumenthal.

"Our immediate goal is for physicians and other care providers to be aware of this possible delayed reaction, so that they are not alarmed, but are well informed and equipped to counsel their patients accordingly," Blumenthal said in a statement from hospital press.

Ella Blumenthal said her own clinical group has seen and reported on twelve patients with the reactions. Among them, symptoms began between four and eleven days after vaccination.

According to Dr. Erica Shenoy, associate chief of the hospital's Infection Control Unit, this delayed skin reaction “could be mistaken by both doctors and patients for a skin infection. However, these types of reactions are not infectious and therefore should not be treated with antibiotics. "

Symptoms generally clear up within a week. Of the patients in the study, half had a reaction after the second injection, about 48 hours after vaccination. According to the findings, no patient had a reaction to the second dose that was more severe than the reaction to the first injection.

"For most of the people who are experiencing this, we believe it is related to the functioning of the body's immune system," said MGH doctor and director of Global Health Dermatology Esther Freeman.