Out of 138,000 French people who have so far received the first dose of the vaccine, "we have […] in the country a case of an allergic adverse reaction which corresponds to the adverse effects observed abroad", declared Mr. Véran during his hearing by the Social Affairs Committee of the National Assembly.
"The outcome was favorable and the consequences simple", specified Mr. Véran during this hearing devoted to the vaccine strategy of France.
According to him, the frequency of this side effect corresponds to what has been observed abroad, with about 1 case per 100,000 people.
US health officials said on January 7 that one in about 100,000 people (or 21 out of 1.8 million injections) had a severe allergic reaction after receiving a dose of the vaccine in the United States, stressing that the benefits of vaccination far outweighed the potential risks.
One of the hypotheses to explain these allergic reactions relates to the presence in the vaccine of a substance, polyethylene glycol (PEG), which is used in many common products such as laxatives, shampoos or toothpaste but does not never before been used in vaccines.
The day after the start of the vaccination campaign with the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine in the United Kingdom in December, two cases of severe allergy had marked the spirits.
However, "it is possible to vaccinate with the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine patients who have a serious drug or food allergy," recently underlined the French Allergology Federation.
The contraindication concerns only patients allergic to one or other of the ingredients contained in this vaccine, she continued, mentioning in particular polyethylene glycol.
While ensuring "do not navigate on sight", Olivier Véran defended the rise of vaccination and promises the vaccination of "more than a million French by the end of January".