Vaccine question

"Has anyone had an adverse reaction to their first Covid vaccine who has had the Covid virus long before receiving the shot? I believe I had Covid in early February 2020 before there was testing for it. At that time, we had been traveling and were in Miami International Airport waiting in an area with passengers arriving from China. When antibody testing became available to us in July 2020, my husband and I both received negative results but still believed that we had had Covid.

I went for my first shot two days ago at CVS and was told bt the pharmacist to call 911 because 20 minutes after the shot I suddenly felt extremely ill. I was shaking, my heart was racing, I had difficulty breathing due to sudden congestion, felt weak, and had elevated blood pressure and ended up in the ER. I am very worried about getting the second shot since the reaction can be worse than the first one. "

Certainly, people who had Covid many months before have developed strong reactions after the 1st dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. And that's expected to a degree. People with pre-existing immunity are more likely to have stronger reactions to any vaccine than those who are immune naive to that virus, bacteria, or toxin.

However, your description of acute onset of symptoms is not typical in any way. I don't what reaction you had exactly, but the rapid onset is not consistent with those reactions seen in pts with prior immunity from prior infection. Your reaction was too quick to be attributed to prior T-cell or B-cell immunity. Anything that sudden is suggestive of allergy or anaphylaxis.

I too would be concerned that you might have a similar reaction to the second shot. I recommend you see an immunologist/allergist and that she/he clears you before getting any more vaccines.

SMS