# Pfizer COVID Shot screening question **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [March 9, 2021, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pfizer-covid-shot-screening-question/937530 "2021-03-09T14:36:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pfizer-covid-shot-screening-question/937530/1 "2021-03-09T14:36:39Z")
Got my first dose yesterday and one of the registration questions was: Are you allergic to Miralax or GoLightly? Any idea what the connection is? At the age of 74, I have used both products in the past, so answered no. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pfizer-covid-shot-screening-question/937530/2 "2021-03-09T14:59:38Z")
I’m going to guess that it’s polyethylene glycol. I know it’s in Miralax, and I’m pretty sure it’s one of the ingredients in the vaccine that is there as a stabilizer-- it keeps the ingredients mixed-- they don’t separate. In laxatives, it draws water into fecal matter to soften it. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pfizer-covid-shot-screening-question/937530/3 "2021-03-09T15:09:22Z")
Thanks for the reply. That’s probably the explanation. I didn’t know it was a component of the vaccine. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pfizer-covid-shot-screening-question/937530/4 "2021-03-09T16:30:42Z")
Here are the ingredients in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines: > **[A Simple Breakdown of the Ingredients in the COVID Vaccines](https://www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org/en/HealthU/2021/01/11/a-simple-breakdown-of-the-ingredients-in-the-covid-vaccines)** > > If you’re among the many wondering “what’s actually in it?” and, “is it safe to receive the injection?”, read on. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pfizer-covid-shot-screening-question/937530/5 "2021-03-09T18:07:41Z")
WHAT? No mercury or aluminum? I feel ripped off already! ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pfizer-covid-shot-screening-question/937530/6 "2021-03-09T18:17:44Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > No mercury or aluminum? Of relevance here, the myth that vaccines contain antifreeze (ethylene glycol) presumably derives from the fact that the Pfizer vaccine and some other drugs contain PEG (POLYetheylene glycol). As @RivkahChaya has said, the question about Miralax is certainly related to PEG anaphylaxis. [https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/12/suspicions-grow-nanoparticles-pfizer-s-covid-19-vaccine-trigger-rare-allergic-reactions](https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/12/suspicions-grow-nanoparticles-pfizer-s-covid-19-vaccine-trigger-rare-allergic-reactions) The reaction is rare, but it can be very serious if you are not in a setting where you can be treated. Any dangerous anaphylactic reaction (to PEG or anything else) will happen immediately, hence the minimum 15 minutes waiting period after all the shots, not just Pfizer. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2021, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pfizer-covid-shot-screening-question/937530/7 "2021-03-10T01:59:52Z")
We got it at work. I was sitting with a friend of mine for the fifteen minutes, and I said, “Let’s holler and fall down on the floor.” He considered it for a bit and responded, “Well, we’d get the day off…” ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2021, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pfizer-covid-shot-screening-question/937530/8 "2021-03-10T05:06:43Z")
Well, it’s been over 30 hours since my shot and no after effects other than my morbid sense of humor. But my wife says that’s nothing new, so I guess I’m good. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2021, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pfizer-covid-shot-screening-question/937530/9 "2021-03-10T22:34:08Z")
Interesting. The questions when I got mine were not that specific just “do you have any allergies?”. I answered “Just hay fever etc. no drug allergies”. I’d never heard of an allergy to PEG but it doesn’t surprise me. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pfizer-covid-shot-screening-question/937530/10 "2021-03-11T06:19:17Z")
All the questionnaires I’ve seen (reading about these shots on-line, and the one I actually answered when getting the shot), all specifically asked “Have you ever had an allergic reaction to polyethylene glycol or [various other ingredients]?” This seems to presume that people answering the question would know what “polyethylene glycol” is and whether they’ve ever used it before. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pfizer-covid-shot-screening-question/937530/11 "2021-03-11T13:42:24Z")
The hospital where I received my shot specifically asked about Miralax and GoLightly. There are probably other common products that contain Polyethylene Glycol, but maybe they think asking about these two common products gives a better answer than “What’s that”?