By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay reporter
THURSDAY, March 4, 2021 (HealthDay News) – Some people who have been given the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine may develop a reaction at the injection site that may not occur until more than a week after the shot.
According to researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, a minority of patients may experience a large, red, sometimes raised, itchy, or painful skin reaction.
Although the reaction has been seen in clinical trials, it shouldn’t prevent people from getting the Moderna vaccine, they said.
“Whether you had an immediate injection site rash or a delayed skin reaction, neither condition should prevent you from receiving the second dose of the vaccine,” said study author Dr. Kimberly Blumenthal. She is co-director of the clinical epidemiology program in the Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology Department at MGH.
“Our immediate goal is to make doctors and other care providers aware of this possible delayed reaction so that they are not alarmed, but are well informed and able to advise their patients accordingly,” said Blumenthal in a press release from the hospital.
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Blumenthal said her own clinical group saw and reported on 12 patients with the reactions. Among these, symptoms began between four and eleven days after vaccination.
According to Dr. Erica Shenoy, Assistant Director of Infection Control at the hospital, said this delayed skin reaction “could be mistaken for a skin infection by doctors and patients alike. However, these types of reactions are not infectious and should not be treated with antibiotics.”
Symptoms usually cleared up in a week. Of the patients in the study, half responded after the second shot – around 48 hours after vaccination. No patient had a response to the second dose that was more severe than the response to the first shot, as the results showed.
Dr. Esther Freeman is Director of Global Health Dermatology at MGH. “For most of the people who experience this, we believe it is related to the body’s immune system, which is going to work,” she said. “Overall, these data are comforting and shouldn’t prevent people from getting the vaccine.”
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The results were published online March 3 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
More information
To learn more about COVID-19 vaccines, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
SOURCE: Massachusetts General Hospital, news release, March 3, 2021
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