Covid vaccines being used in the UK are safe and the high levels of protection they give against the virus ‘far outweigh’ any side effects they cause, regulators say.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) today published a summary of its safety reports from the jabs between December 9 and January 24.
It found that around one in every 330 people get side effects of some kind, but that these were generally aches, tiredness and fever which ‘reflect the normal immune response’ and are about as common as they are with flu jabs.
A total 143 people had died ‘shortly after’ receiving a vaccine during that time, but they were mostly very old or ill and the jabs were not linked to their deaths, the MHRA said – the most elderly, frail and at-risk have been first to get the vaccines.
More than 10million people in the UK have now had their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine and ministers today said they plan to have reached all over-50s by May.
The two vaccines being used in Britain – the only ones included in the MHRA’s report – are ones developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford University/AstraZeneca. Both have been proven to offer high levels of protection against Covid-19.
The report said: ‘Based on current experience, the expected benefits of both Covid-19 vaccines in preventing Covid-19 and its serious complications far outweigh any known side effects.’
It added: ‘This reassuring data has shown that the vast majority of reported side effects are mild and all are in line with most types of vaccine, including the seasonal flu vaccine.’
The report has been published online so the public can read it.
It comes as Britain today sealed a deal for 50million doses of Covid vaccines from the German firm Curevac, which will be developed to tackle newer variants of the virus that may reduce the effectiveness of other jabs. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: ‘We are bolstering our defences against the risk of new variants.’
More than 10million people in the UK have now had a Covid vaccine, with the majority of them over-75s and NHS and social care workers (Pictured: A member of the public receives a jab at Villa Park football stadium in Birmingham)
The MHRA’s report is based on its Yellow Card reporting scheme which allows people to log when they suffer side effects from a medicine or vaccination.
It found that there had been 22,820 reports about Covid vaccines between December 9 and January 24, during which time around 6.6million people had a jab.
The report said there were an average of three complaints for every 1,000 vaccine doses given out.
Not every one is a severe reaction and people can submit the reports even if they just get a pain in their arm after the injection, or a headache, fever or tiredness, all of which are normal side effects of vaccines of any kind.
The purpose of collecting the reports is to see what proportion of people develop side effects when the jabs are used in the real world, to check that it is in line with what happened in clinical trials, and to keep logs of any serious incidents.
The overwhelming majority of the Yellow Card reports were for mild suspected side-effects.
On severe effects, the report found there were 101 allergic reactions to the jabs.
The MHRA last year advised medics not to use the Pfizer jab for people who had a history of severe allergies in order to prevent this happening, and everyone who gets a jab has to be monitored for a short period after getting the injection.
The report recorded 76 cases of face paralysis called Bell’s Palsy in people who had recently been vaccinated, but it said this was no higher than random occurrences in the general population.
There were 143 deaths among people who had recently had the jab, but these also could not be linked to the vaccines because most of the people were already sick, the regulator ruled.
It said: ‘The majority of these reports were in elderly people or people with underlying illness.
‘Review of individual reports and patterns of reporting does not suggest the vaccine played a role in the death.’
Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed a pharmacist and member of the Independent Commission on Human Medicines, said Covid-19 vaccines were ‘extremely safe’.
He added: ‘The benefits far outweigh the risks. I say that to my family as well.’
And Dr June Raine, chief executive of the MHRA, said: ‘Vaccines are the most effective way to protect against Covid-19 and save lives and prevent serious complications from this terrible virus.
‘The data we have collected provides further reassurance that the Covid-19 vaccines are safe and continue to meet the rigorous regulatory standards required for all vaccines.
‘We remain confident that the benefits of these vaccines outweigh any risks.
‘Our priority is to ensure the public have safe and effective vaccines and we will continue to analyse, monitor and review all the safety data for these vaccines.’
Side effects overall appeared to be more common in younger age groups, but the MHRA suggested there may be biases in reporting, with younger people more likely to report side-effects.
It said other strands of data being monitored had not thrown up any safety concerns.
More side effects were reported from people who had received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine than the Oxford/AstraZeneca one, but this reflected the fact that far more of these had been given out.
During the time covered by the report 5.4million people had been given a Pfizer jab, compared to 1.5million who got the Oxford one.
The 16,756 Yellow Card reports for the Pfizer jab represented a rate of about 0.3 per cent, while the 6,014 from the Oxford vaccine was approximately 0.4 per cent.
