ST. LOUIS — If Pfizer's vaccine gets the final stamp of approval from the FDA, then BJC HealthCare should get its first shipment next week.
"This is a new vaccine. There are some people who are still very anxious about whether there might be some rare, important side effect," BJC Chief Clinical Officer and Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Clay Dunagan said, "We are totally against that. The benefits of the vaccine outweigh any risk."
The reason Dr. Clay Dunagan is so confident in Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, is the amount of people who participated in the trial.
"We've already had almost 100,000 people vaccinated with these two vaccines and there have really been no life threatening consequences," explained Dr. Dunagan, "The allergic reactions were easily managed, so I think everything we can point to says this is going to be safe and people will be able to tolerate it."
The allergic reactions Dr. Dunagan referred to were out of the United Kingdom. Two medical providers who received the shot, experienced allergic reactions shortly after. Both individuals have a history of allergies and were carrying EpiPens.
Dr. Dunagan says the allergic reactions are notable, but not something that gives him pause about moving ahead with Pfizer's vaccine.
"One thing to keep in mind is people have allergies to all kinds of things and and we are almost certainly going to have individuals who will be allergic to the vaccine, we will manage those in a way that should keep them safe," he said.
Among the 100,000 trial participants who received Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, Dr. Dunagan believes some were immunocompromised. Details on if any participants were organ transplant recipients or cancer patients has not been disclosed by Pfizer.
Dr. Dunagan said most participants did get little sick after their second dose of the two step vaccine.
"There have been some sort of flu like symptoms in recipients. Typically they're more prominent after the second vaccine which is actually encouraging, because it means your body is really revved up and ready to fight the virus off," he said.
He says those symptoms were easily managed with ibuprofen and rest.
As far as the vaccine goes with pregnant women and children, further studies and clinical trials will be needed to determine safety and efficacy. Dr. Dunagan says, "kids tend to tolerate this disease pretty well."
Dr. Dunagan expects further pediatric trials and expanded vaccinations in adults will yield similar results to the initial study.
There has been some concern over the temperature the vaccine is administered at. Dr. Dunagan says any concern is unnecessary. Pfizer's vaccine is only stored at -100°. Before the dose is injected, it is brought to room temperature.