COVID-19 Vaccines in Children with Cow’s Milk and Food Allergies

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is the most challenging global health crisis of our times. Vaccination against COVID-19 plays a key role to control the current pandemic situation. The risk of allergic reactions to new COVID-19 vaccines is low. However, there is a debate on the safety in allergic patients following post marketing findings by different agencies. Our aim is to understand from current experiences whether children with cow’s milk or food allergy are at higher risk than a general population for allergic reactions to COVID-19 vaccines. Current data indicate that patients with a history of allergy to cow’s milk or other foods, even if severe, should receive COVID-19 vaccine in a setting with availability of treatments for anaphylactic reactions and under medical supervision. Recipients should be discharged after a protracted observation period of 30 min if no reaction developed.

A systematic review of current status and challenges of vaccinating children against SARS-CoV-2

“…Other studies have shown that full vaccination of two or three doses of RNA vaccine can significantly increase the level of neutralizing antibodies in the recipients, preventing the occurrence of a global pandemic amid the frequent emergence of new variants of SARS-CoV-2 both in adults and children [45] , [48] , [108] , [109] , [110] , [111] , [112] , [113] . Robust clinical data also confirmed that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe in children with specific diseases, including congenital immunodeficiency, congenital heart disease, pediatric inflammatory bowel disease and allergy [114] , [115] , [116] , [117] , [118] , [119] , [120] , [121] , [122] . Given that some parents are still hesitant about vaccine safety, reducing the single-dose volume of vaccines for children and extending the vaccination interval has been proven to reduce the occurrence of adverse events, which is expected to become the vaccination strategy for children in the future [111] , [123] , [124] .…”

The year 2021 in COVID-19 pandemic in children

“…Vaccination is considered the best advisable strategy to prevent COVID-19 infection. Until now, immunization is available for people aged 5 years and older and it demonstrated either a good efficacy or an acceptable security profile [ 90 , 91 ]. Starting from 2021, in the pediatric age, immunization is actually offered by a Messenger RNA vaccine shot in the muscle of the upper arm.…”

Management of BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in children aged 5–11 years with allergies, asthma, and immunodeficiency: consensus of the Italian Society of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology (SIAIP)

“…Most international documents suggest [ 7 , 9 – 11 , 20 ] to proceed with vaccination as normal (in the green zone). However, considering that some patients who developed allergic reactions after BNT162b2 vaccine have a previous history of food anaphylaxis [ 21 – 23 ] we suggest performing the vaccine in vaccination centers equipped for anaphylaxis management [ 6 , 24 ]. Idiopathic anaphylaxis and exercise-induced anaphylaxis.…”