All is not going according to plan in the global rollout of what is arguably the most important vaccine in a century, and it is not just growing mistrust in the covid injection effort that was rolled out in record time: an unexpected spike in allergic reactions to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine may prove catastrophic to widespread acceptance unless scientists can figure out what is causing it after the FDA’s rushed approval. So in a welcome development, the WSJ reports that according to scientists, the potential culprit causing the allergic reactions to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is the compound polyethylene glycol, also known as PEG.
According to the CDC, at least six severe allergic reactions to the vaccine have been reported so far in the US out of 272,001 doses administered through Dec. 19, while at least two cases of anaphylaxis have also occurred in the UK.
Polyethylene glycol – a polyether compound derived from petroleum with many applications, from industrial manufacturing to medicine – is present in both the Moderna and Pfizer–BioNTech vaccines for SARS-CoV-2 as a PEGylated lipid, which is used as an excipient. Both RNA vaccines consist of Messenger RNA, or mRNA, encased in a bubble of oily molecules called lipids. Proprietary lipid technology is used for each. In both vaccines, the bubbles are coated with a stabilizing molecule of polyethylene glycol.
Scientists have focused in on PEG as a potential suspect even as health authorities say they are still investigating the incidents and plan to study the issue further. The compound is found in other drugs and is known to trigger anaphylaxis on rare occasions.
“Although I think we’re just speculating here…it is known that one of the components that is present in both of the vaccines—polyethylene glycol—can be associated, uncommonly, with allergic reactions,” said Peter Marks, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, at a Dec. 18 press conference. – READ MORE
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