Free Republic

Most people with allergic reactions to the first dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine from either Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna can safely receive the second dose, a new study shows. The rates of allergic reactions to these vaccines have been reported to be as high as 2%, with anaphylaxis, the most serious kind, occurring in up to 2.5 of every 10,000 vaccine recipients, the researchers said. They reviewed data on 189 adults with first-dose reactions to one of these vaccines, such as flushing, dizziness or lightheadedness, tingling, throat tightness, hives, and wheezing or shortness of breath. Most of these adults -...

Very recently my niece bought a generic iPhone charging cord from a local Wal-Mart, and within hours of utilizing it had an anaphylactic reaction consisting of large red, itchy welts on her body. Her mother took her to a doctor, who gave her a 50 mg diphenhydramine injection, a steroid injection, and prescribed more of both in pill form to take at home. The very next day, my niece suffered yet another anaphylactic episode in which her tongue swelled up; she was again taken to the doctor, who prescribed her an EpiPen (epinephrine) and again treated her anaphylaxis. From the...

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack ... This familiar line from the baseball anthem "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" doesn't have the same happy meaning for Timothy Haverkamp that it does for most fans. Timothy, a first-grader from Ada Elementary, is allergic to peanuts. "He was allergic to everything when he was little. His brother is allergic to peanuts, too," Jane Haverkamp, Timothy's mother, said. "He never had a life-threatening emergency with peanuts, but we don't keep any at home." Timothy attended Wednesday's West Michigan Whitecaps game without fear of an attack. The team hosted its second...