Chicago area hospital resumes vaccinations after 4 employees experience reactions
(AP Photo/Hector Amezcua, Pool)
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LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. (WGN-TV) — Advocate Condell Medical Center in the Chicago suburb of Libertyville resumed COVID-19 vaccinations Sunday after pausing the program Friday when four workers suffered allergic reactions to the vaccine this week.
The initial concern was whether the hospital had received a bad batch of vaccines. Out of 6,000 people vaccinated this week throughout the Advocate system in Illinois and Wisconsin, all four people who had reactions received their doses at Advocate Condell.
The hospital paused, investigated and determined it’s safe to move forward.
“That same lot of vaccine was used at multiple other sites both within and outside of Advocate Aurora Health and no other serious concerns reported. We felt that there were really no concerns about the integrity of the vaccine,” Dr. Robert Citronberg said.
Citronberg is the system’s executive medical director of infectious disease and prevention.
Advocate Aurora Health said the CDC and the state and Lake County Health Departments have signed off on its plan to resume vaccinations.
Of the four people who had reactions, one was a severe allergic reaction that required an overnight stay, the health system said.
The FDA said it’s investigating reports of reactions with the Pfizer vaccine after its nationwide rollout this week.
“We’ll be looking at all of the data we can from each of these reactions so we can sort out exactly what happened and we’ll also be looking to understand which component of the vaccine might be helping to produce them,” Dr. Peter Marks of the FDA said.
Other hospitals in Chicago are seeing reactions as well, however no other facilities have paused their programs.
Dr. Lakshmi Halasyamani, the Chief Medical Officer of NorthShore University HealthSystem said people who received doses at NorthShore’s Glenbrook Hospital were transferred to the emergency department out of an abundance of caution, but were later discharged.
She said reactions are not surprising when moving a vaccine from a small study group to everyone else, adding that reactions will likely occur with Moderna’s recently approved vaccine as well.
“Overall what we’ve learned about the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines is that they are safe. They are safe and they are effective,” Halasyamani said.
Both Citronberg and Halasyamani have been vaccinated and have reported no issues.
Aurora Advocate said out of an abundance of caution, the post-vaccine evaluation period has been increased to 30 minutes for everyone receiving a dose.
