A claim circulating on social media suggests that the UK government has blocked the publication of data on coronavirus vaccine side effects is untrue.
The posts have been repeatedly shared on Facebook and Twitter since the end of January and viewed by thousands of people (here, here, here, here, here). They specifically allege that the government blocked the Office of National Statistics to release data on how many people experienced side effects after receiving a vaccine against COVID-19. The posts point to this as a reason to be suspicious about vaccination programs.
“The UK government has blocked the Office of National Statistics from publishing information on side effects, diseases and deaths of people after receiving COVID-19 vaccinations,” one Facebook report said. “If everything is as it should be, why would our government withhold this important information?”
Another Facebook post, originally taken as a screenshot of Twitter, said: ‘Something else you will not see on the News. The government blocked the Office of National Statistics from publishing data on how many people died after being vaccinated and how many had side effects after vaccination. Think it’s about the virus? think again. “
Both of these reports are false. In an email to Reuters, a spokesperson for the ONS said the department is currently working on plans to monitor the vaccination program, and any results will be published accordingly.
They said: ‘The US has developed plans to monitor the effectiveness of mass vaccination. This is likely to include the analysis of existing data streams and additional survey questions. If we are satisfied with the quality and robustness of our findings, it will be disclosed in the usual manner and in accordance with the UK Code of Practice for Statistics. ”
The Department of Health and Social Care also told Reuters there was no truth behind the allegations and pointed to regular reports published by the Medicines and Health Care Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on the vaccines.
These reports, which are published weekly, are compiled using the Yellow Card Scheme, the UK official website for the registration of adverse drug reactions. This includes the recording of suspected side effects of the coronavirus vaccines (yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/).
The latest report covers the period between 9 December 2020 and 7 February 2021 (here). During this time, 24,207 yellow cards were reported for the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, while 20,428 were reported for the Oxford / AstraZeneca jab. There were also 113 reports where the brand name was not specified.
“Any member of the public or health worker can file suspected side effects through the yellow card scheme,” the MHRA said. “The nature of the yellow card reporting means that reported events are not always proven side effects. Some events may have happened anyway, regardless of the vaccination. This is especially the case when millions of people are vaccinated, and especially when most vaccines are given to the elderly and people with underlying diseases. ”
According to many experts around the world, vaccinations for COVID-19 are safe and effective (here, here, here, here). They have also begun to show positive effects in countries that have introduced rapid vaccination campaigns. For example, Israel, which gave almost half of the population the first dose of Pfizer / BioNTech sting (here), had a decrease in the rate of positive COVID-19 tests on February 10, along with the lowest number of people. reported in a month that they have serious consequences of the disease (here). Early analysis in England, meanwhile, is also starting to show signs of a positive effect (here).
VERDICT
Untrue. The ONS is not blocked from publishing data on side effects of vaccines, as these data are already being analyzed and made public by the MHRA. Meanwhile, the ONS is working on plans to monitor the vaccination campaign and says it will announce any results in the usual way.
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