Refill to add ‘COVID-19’ to heading
A video with thousands of views on social media contains the false claim that government figures show that one in 35 recipients of the COVID-19 vaccine will have a serious adverse event or die.
In response to a video released in February, in which the 94-year-old Queen Elizabeth of Britain encourages people to get the vaccine (here), the British man says in the 11-minute social media video: ‘She cares that the government’s figures show that one in 35 of the people brave enough to accept the injection will die or experience serious adverse events? ”(Here time stamp 1.30) Other claims made by the speaker in the course of the video fall outside the scope of this check.
The UK government has said that mild adverse reactions to COVID are relatively common. In a publication here, the government says that Pfizer / BioNTech’s clinical trials involving more than 44,000 people showed the most common reactions – reported in more than 1 in 10 people – injection site pain, fatigue, headache , muscle aches, colds, joint pains and fever.
The University of Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine clinical trials involving more than 23,000 participants reported that the most frequently reported side effects were injection site tenderness, injection site pain, headache, fatigue, muscle aches, fever, chills, joint pain and nausea. These reactions were usually mild and resolved a few days after vaccination.
The government is running a yellow card scheme in which anyone vaccinated in the UK could have suspected side effects if Yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/. The reports do not confirm to the authorities the suspicion of evaluating adverse effects.
In its latest publication (here) the British government figures show that 33 207 yellow cards were submitted for suspected side effects of the vaccine Pfizer / BioNTech, 54 180 for the vaccine of the University of Oxford / AstraZeneca and 251 where the mark of the vaccine not specified. . These figures peaked on 28 February 2021, at which 21 million vaccine doses were administered in the United Kingdom. For both vaccines, the total reporting rate is approximately 3 – 6 yellow cards per 1000 doses administered.
A spokesman for the Regulatory Agency of Medicines and Healthcare Products (MHRA) told Reuters in an email: “For both vaccines, the vast majority of reactions are related to injection site reactions (for example, a sore arm) and general symptoms such as ‘flu-like’ illness, headache, chills, fatigue (tiredness), nausea (feeling sick), fever, dizziness, weakness, muscle aches and rapid heartbeat, generally occurring shortly after vaccination and unrelated to a more serious or permanent illness.
‘Vaccination is the most effective way to reduce COVID-19 deaths and serious illnesses, and the overall safety experience with both vaccines is as far-reaching as the clinical trials expected.
“Based on current experience, the expected benefits of both COVID-19 vaccines to prevent COVID-19 and its serious complications outweigh any known side effects.”
It is possible that the allegation in the social media video is related to certain U.S. government information provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) here. A presentation showed that approximately 18,807 people were registered with V-safe from 18 December 2020, a tool to conduct health examinations after the vaccination of COVID-19, and received the first dose of Pfizer vaccine. Out of this group, 3,150 health impact events were reported. Such events are defined by the CDC as “unable to perform normal daily activities, unable to work, required care of physician or health care professional”.
These figures were interpreted to indicate that one in 35 recipients (here) reported health impact events, but a CDC spokesman told Reuters that a person using V-safe could mark all the subjects (not normal daily activities can not perform, not work, and / or required care of doctor or health worker), so 3 150 reports did not necessarily represent 3 150 people.
‘We expect someone to be vaccinated to have side effects, which are normal signs that your body is building up protection. These side effects can affect your ability to do daily activities, but they will disappear within a few days, ‘the spokesman said.
The CDC’s ‘health impact’ definition is much broader than the definition of a ‘serious adverse event’. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) describes here what is a ‘serious adverse event’. It refers to death, life-threatening, hospitalization, permanent injury, birth defect or medical intervention to prevent any of these outcomes.
As outlined in the Oxford University Vaccine Knowledge Project, side effects are not always the same as ‘side effects’ because reporting a side effect after vaccination is not related to the vaccine (here)
VERDICT
Untrue. Government figures do not show that one in 35 people who receive the COVID-19 vaccine will die or have serious adverse effects.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.