|
1000
|
Abstract/Summary
|
-
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Background</jats:title>
<jats:p>When coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines were introduced, they were suspected of triggering severe allergic reactions disproportionately often. This contributed to the fear of vaccination, particularly among allergy patients.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Methods</jats:title>
<jats:p>In an allergy center in eastern Bavaria, we used a skin prick test to investigate how often sensitization to COVID-19 vaccines can be detected and whether appropriate testing could significantly reduce the fear of vaccination.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Results</jats:title>
<jats:p>Comirnaty® (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> <jats:italic>=</jats:italic> 245 tested/6.93% <jats:italic>clearly positive </jats:italic>reaction; Biontec/Pfizer, Mainz, Germany/New York City, NY, USA), Spikevax® (56/14.28%; Moderna, Cambridge, MA, USA), Vaxzevria® (208/4.32%; Astra Zeneca, Cambridge, England) and Jcovden® (48/4.16%; Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, NJ, USA) were tested by skin prick test. Most participants tested were female (83.6%) and had a history of allergies (94.8%). Depending on the result of the skin prick test, the test subjects were advised on vaccination. In a questionnaire survey approximately 1 year after testing, 75.7% of the <jats:italic>N</jats:italic> = 70 respondents stated that their fear of vaccination had been greatly or very greatly reduced as a result of the testing and counseling. In the follow-up survey, 88.5% of all respondents had been vaccinated at least once. No notable allergic problems occurred during the COVID-19 vaccination in study participants.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title>
<jats:p>The study shows that simple skin prick testing could reduce fears and concerns about allergic reactions to COVID-19 vaccines, and thus significantly increase the willingness to vaccinate in the population, especially among allergy patients.</jats:p>
</jats:sec>
|
