Vaccine Safety Update

This is the 33rd of the round-ups 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 (find the 32nd one here). By no means is this part of an effort to generate alarm about the vaccines or dissuade anyone from getting inoculated. It should be read in conjunction with the Daily Sceptic‘s other posts on vaccines, which include both encouraging and not so encouraging developments. At the Daily Sceptic we report all the news about the vaccines whether positive or negative and give no one advice about whether they should or should not take them. Unlike with lockdowns, we are neither pro-vaccine nor anti-vaccine; we see our job as reporting the facts, not advocating for or against a particular policy. 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 was 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. (Dr. Tess Lawrie in June wrote an open letter to Dr. June Raine, head of the MHRA, arguing that: “The MHRA now has more than enough evidence on the Yellow Card system to declare the COVID-19 vaccines unsafe for use in humans,” a claim that has been ‘fact checked’ here.) Boris Johnson said in October that being double vaccinated “doesn’t protect you against catching the disease, and it doesn’t protect you against passing it on”. We publish information and opinion to inform public debate and help readers reach their own conclusions about what is best for them, based on the available data.

A study has shown that the Pfizer vaccine could affect thyroid function.
A Long Covid study has shown high rates of serious vaccine side-effects.
A website has counted 1,090 cardiac arrests and 715 deaths in athletes globally following Covid vaccination.
NHS freedom of information releases reveal that ambulance call-outs for heart-related illnesses have doubled since COVID-19 vaccination began.
The U.K. MHRA has received record funding from AstraZeneca and Pfizer and donations from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Young males suffered heart inflammation at higher rates following a booster dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, according to newly released data from the U.S. CDC.
Alex Mitchell, 57, from Scotland, suffered vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) following AstraZeneca vaccination.
The Covid vaccine has been added to U.K. NHS child immunisation schedule.
Eudravigilance – the European version of the Yellow Card Reporting system – as of June 4th has reported 4,419,726 reactions from 1,829,048 reports of which 1,994,775 were deemed as serious. 45,346 fatal reactions were reported with an approximate actual number of deaths being 14,567. This is due to a 3.11 reporting rate in fatalities across multiple reactions.
VAERS – the American version of the Yellow Card reporting system – as of June 4th reports a total of 1,287,595 reports of adverse events following Covid vaccines, including 28,532 deaths and 236,700 serious injuries. For children up to the age of 17 there have been 49,372 reports, of which 4,561 were deemed serious and 118 fatalities.
DAEN Australia – the equivalent of the Yellow Card reporting system – has logged (up to May 27th) 129,923 reports of adverse events, including 877 deaths.
Children (Under 18) Adverse Events U.K. – up to May 25th, the MHRA reports a total of 4,299 adverse event reports, comprising 3,890 Pfizer, 330 AstraZeneca, 48 Moderna and 31 unspecified from 3,913,700 children vaccinated with 6,426,600 doses. This includes 80 reported cases with Pfizer of myocarditis/pericarditis, suggesting a current reported risk of 14 cases per million first doses and 11 per million second doses for this age group.
Booster Doses – 49,981 adverse events have been reported across all vaccines up to May 25th from 39,679,182 people vaccinated.

Summary of Adverse Events in the U.K.

According to an updated report, as of May 25th the MHRA Yellow Card reporting system has recorded a total of 1,496,682 events based on 457,287 reports. The total number of fatalities reported is 2,161.

Pfizer (26.9 million first doses) now has one Yellow Card in 157 people vaccinated. Deaths: one in 34,576 people vaccinated (778).
AstraZeneca (24.9 million first doses) has one Yellow Card in 102 people vaccinated. Deaths: one in 19,499 people vaccinated (1,277).
Moderna (1.7 million first doses) has one Yellow Card in 44 people vaccinated. Deaths: one in 28,814 people vaccinated (59).

Overall, one in every 117 people vaccinated (0.85%) have experienced a Yellow Card adverse event. Reported adverse events are not necessarily caused by the vaccine and further investigation is required to establish causality. The MHRA has previously estimated that the Yellow Card reporting rate may be approximately 10% of actual figures. Note that sometimes in Yellow Card reporting, the numbers of adverse events (including fatalities) will be lower than the previous week. The Yellow Card system is a passive reporting system, so in theory this should not happen as all reports should be cumulative. However, the MHRA says it analyses the data prior to publication, with deaths and pregnancy conditions being notably investigated. It does not state criteria by which reports would be removed and to date has not clarified why these data vary. It is therefore unclear how many reported adverse events have been removed from the reports since reporting began in February 2021.