Health

Mexican doctor in intensive care after getting Covid-19 vaccine

Mexico City, Jan 2 (efe-epa).- A physician with a history of allergic reactions remains in intensive care after going into convulsions within 30 minutes of her being injected with the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, the Mexican government said Saturday.

The 32-year-old doctor is suffering from encephalomyelitis, an inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, according to the initial diagnosis.

Mexico’s Health Secretariat noted that data from the clinical trials of the BNT162b2 vaccine did not mention any instance of a test subject’s showing symptoms of encephalitis following an injection.

The patient, whose name was not disclosed, is being treated in the ICU of a public hospital in the northern state of Nuevo Leon, the secretariat said.

Minutes after getting the shot, the woman developed a skin rash and experienced convulsions, muscle weakness and respiratory difficulties.

“The reaction was detected within the dedicated observation area of the vaccination cell where the doctor received her vaccine,” the Health Secretariat said.

Authorities are following the protocol established by Mexico’s Cofepris regulatory agency for adverse events related to vaccination.

“The doctor is under observation and treatment by specialists in critical medicine to diminish the cerebral inflammation. Intensive specialized treatment will continue,” the secretariat said.

Mexico, where Covid-19 has killed more than 126,000 people and infected upward of 1.4 million, began inoculating health-care workers with the Pfizer/BioNTech drug on Dec. 24.

The first shipment contained only around 53,000 doses, but the Mexican government has secured a commitment from Pfizer to supply a total of 34.4 million doses.

A second consignment of the Pfizer medication is scheduled to arrive in Mexico City next Tuesday.

Mexico also has contracts for 77.4 million doses of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine and 35 million doses of the medication created by China’s CanSino.

Next week, officials are set to formalize a deal for the delivery of 12 million doses from CanSino over the course of the first three months of 2021.

Another 34.4 million doses are to be obtained through the World Health Organization’s COVAX program.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has pledged that all of Mexico’s health-care workers will be vaccinated by the end of this month and that “the majority” of those who are most vulnerable to Covid-19 will get the shot before May 1. EFE ppc/dr

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