We’re publishing a round-up of Covid vaccine safety reports and news compiled by a group of medical doctors who are monitoring developments but prefer to remain anonymous in the current climate. By no means is this part of an effort to generate alarm about the vaccines or dissuade anyone from having them. At Lockdown Sceptics we report all news about the vaccines whether positive or negative and give no one advice about whether they should or should not be received. Unlike with lockdowns, we are neither pro-vaccine nor anti-vaccine; we see our job as to report the facts, not advocate for or against vaccines. The vaccine technology is novel and the vaccines have not yet fully completed their trials, which is why they’re in use under temporary and not full market authorisation. This has been done on account of the emergency situation and the trial data was largely encouraging on both efficacy and safety. For a summary of that data, see this preamble to the Government’s page on the Yellow Card reporting system. We publish information and opinion to inform public debate and help readers come to their own conclusions about what is best for them, based on the available data.
News Round-Up
- COVID-19 vaccines are to be investigated by the European Medicines Agency for side-effects including Guillain Barre Syndrome, face-swelling anaphylaxis and blood clots.
- AstraZeneca faces further bans in Slovakia, Quebec and Brazil (for pregnant women).
- 57 Scientists and Doctors have created a report that summarises key concerns on COVID-19 vaccines regarding long and short term health implications.
- The Israeli People’s Committee have released a report on the adverse events related to the COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer).
- Concerns continue to arise around COVID-19 vaccination and pregnancy. The MHRA have announced that the vaccines are safe for pregnant women, following the results of a “preliminary study” in the New England Journal of Medicine which only included a small group of 827 women, 13.9% of whom suffered pregnancy loss. Cases of spontaneous abortion have been reported to Yellow Card, VAERS and Eudravigilance and countries like Brazil have currently banned certain vaccines. Hundreds of thousands of reports have been made of hormonal disruption, bleeding and miscarriage with Facebook groups being censored and removed, as also reported by the BBC. Fears could centre around the effect of the virus (as replicated by vaccination) as flagged up in this study in the Journal of Cells on the effects on the placenta of COVID-19.
- The MHRA has given approval for the mixing of vaccines following the publication of the Com Cov Study by Oxford University in the Lancet. This is despite findings that there is some increase in adverse events with the mixing of vaccines.
- A useful article in the Pharmaceutical Journal summarised all the current approved vaccines and treatments for COVID-19 and others currently in development.
- Concerns about the connection between COVID-19 vaccines and blood clots are ongoing – this week in relation to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
- In a study by Radboud University Medical Center and Erasmus MC in the Netherlands, and the Helmholtz-Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Hannover Medical School (MHH), and the University of Bonn, in Germany, researchers have found possible links between mRNA vaccines and the reprogramming of the innate immune system.
- VAERS update: The U.S. vaccine adverse event reporting system has recorded 4,057 deaths relating to COVID-19 vaccines as of May 7th 2021. This is over twenty times the average annual number of all vaccine-related deaths usually reported to VAERS (under 200 per year) in a period of less than four months. Forty six per cent of these deaths occurred in people who fell ill within 48 hours of being vaccinated.
Summary of Adverse Events UK
Updated report published on May 6th 2021 from MHRA Yellow Card Reporting up to 28th April 2021. (NB: Reported adverse events are not necessarily caused by the vaccine.)
Cumulatively 20 weeks for Pfizer (approx 19.5 million doses) and 16 weeks for AstraZeneca (approx 28.5 million doses) and two weeks for Moderna (approx 0.1 million doses); 34 million unique people received one or two doses; 215,939 unique reports filed with Yellow Card.
Total Events 757,564; Total Reports 215,939; Total Fatalities 1,102.
Key Summary of Adverse Events (for full table see below)
- Acute Cardiac events 8,079
- Anaphylaxis 875
- Blood Disorders 10,296
- Eye Disorders 11,336, of which 178 resulted in Blindness
- Psychiatric Disorders 13,930
- Spontaneous Abortions/Foetal Death 114
- Facial Paralysis 763
- Disturbances in Consciousness 9,983
- Strokes and CNS haemorrhages 1,391
- Guillain Barre Syndrome 214
- Tremor 8,910
- Thrombosis & Embolism (All types) 3,515
- Seizures 1,578
- Paralysis 592
- Haemorrhage (All types) 2,017
- Reproductive/Breast issues 3,987
Adverse Event Analysis
Based on 20.1m doses of Pfizer and 30.8m doses of AstraZeneca (with Moderna there are still far too few doses), Pfizer has one Yellow Card for 361 doses and AZ one for 184 doses. The average number of adverse events (i.e., symptoms) per report remains consistent: 2.9 for Pfizer, 3.7 for AZ. Pfizer has one fatal report per 54,324 doses and AZ per 40,741.
Yellow Card Reports Summary
Source: Pfizer; Moderna; Astrazeneca; Unspecified. “F” denotes Fatal
