Richard Terrell Goochland Virginia man, 74, suffers rare severe reaction to J&J COVID-19 vaccine as doctors insist medicine is still safe. Side effects of COVID medication examined.
The makers of Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine have insisted that their product continues to remain safe despite a 74 year old Virginia man experiencing an adverse reaction which included a painful rash spreading across his entire body and causing his skin to peel off.
Richard Terrell, 74, of Goochland began suffering strange symptoms four days after receiving the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine on March 6, WRIC reports.
‘I began to feel a little discomfort in my armpit and then a few days later I began to get an itchy rash, and then after that I began to swell and my skin turned red,’ Terrell told the outlet.
But soon the rash covered his entire body, Terrell said.
‘It all just happened so fast. My skin peeled off,’ Terrell reiterated.
Vaccine cited as attributable source of rash and swelling
‘It was stinging, burning and itching. Whenever I bent my arms or legs, like the inside of my knee, it was very painful where the skin was swollen and was rubbing against itself,’ he continued.
Terrell went to the emergency room at the hospital, where dermatologists with Virginia Commonwealth University Health, determined that he had experienced an adverse reaction to the vaccine, WRIC reported.
‘We ruled out all the viral infections, we ruled out COVID-19 itself, we made sure that his kidneys and liver was okay, and finally we came to the conclusion that it was the vaccine that he had received that was the cause,’ Dr. Fnu Nutan told the outlet.
She said that the medical episode could have been life-threatening if left untreated.
‘Skin is the largest organ in the body, and when it gets inflamed like his was, you can lose a lot of fluids and electrolytes,’ Nutan told the outlet.
Dr. Fnu Nutan emphasized Terrell’s reaction had something to do with his genetic make-up and the vaccine type. Dr. Nutan says Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are mRNA’s and Johnson & Johnson is a vector viral.
‘I want to reassure people we have seen worse skin reactions in patients with COVID… this reaction is recognizable and treatable,’ Dr. Nutan told Newsweek.
How safe are COVID vaccines?
Dr. Nutan stressed the reaction Terrell suffered is extremely rare.
‘If you look at the risk for adverse reaction for the vaccine it’s really, really low,’ Dr. Nutan told 8News. ‘We haven’t seen a great concern at all. I am a big proponent of the vaccine.’
Terrell who continues to recover says he’s still very weak and that it will take some time for him to fully recover, but he’s thankful to have received his dose.
Terrell’s reaction was reported to the CDC and VCU doctors will be submitting the case to a medical journal this week.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says common side effects can include swelling, muscle pain, fever and nausea, but are considered to be signs that your body is building protection and will typically go away within ‘a few days.’
The CDC recommends people who have a history of severe allergic reactions not related to vaccines—such as food and pets—should still be vaccinated with one of the three COVID vaccines, made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.
No medical outlet has come forward to issue any warnings about the efficacy and safety of its vaccines — as some European states, and now Canada issue warnings about those under the age of 60 and 55 respectively, using AstraZeneca’s vaccine which has been reported to cause blood clots, in some cases fatal. AstraZeneca has to date not been approved in the FDA as the maker awaits imminent approval.
