Acute urticaria alone after CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccination should not be a contraindication for revaccination

Patients who develop an immediate allergic reaction within the first 4 h of COVID-19 vaccine injection are recommended not to receive the same vaccine again. This recommendation mainly focuses on the mRNA and adenoviral vector COVID-19 vaccines, but data for whole virus vaccines are unknown. We report seven patients who developed an immediate reaction within 4 h (six had generalized urticaria, one had localized urticaria) after the first vaccination with CoronaVac, the inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. The results of skin tests and basophil activation tests suggested that spike peptides play a role in exacerbating urticaria in some patients. However, all subjects who developed urticaria within 4 h after CoronaVac vaccination were successfully revaccinated without graded challenge, although recurrent urticaria was common. This preliminary result indicates that acute urticaria alone should not be a contraindication for the second dose of CoronaVac if the supply of alternative vaccines is limited.

Automated summary

Patients who develop an immediate allergic reaction within 4 hours of COVID-19 vaccine injection are not recommended to receive the same vaccine again; however, for CoronaVac vaccine, immediate urticaria should not be a contraindication for the second dose, as successful revaccination is possible.