vaccine
© Unsplash/Daniel Schludi
This is the 15th 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 14th 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 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. (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 has now said that the vaccine "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.
  • The U.S. CDC has set up a monitoring system for reporting COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough cases - as of October 18th 2021 there have been 41,127 breakthrough cases reported, 10,857 of whom died.
  • Dr Scott McLachlan reports an excessive number of healthy babies born to mothers who've had the vaccine during pregnancy dying within 48-72 hours of birth.
  • The latest U.K. Covid figures by vaccination status, up to week 41 (17th October), report higher cases of Covid per 100,000 people in double-vaccinated than unvaccinated.
  • Sweden has suspended the Moderna jab indefinitely after vaccinated patients developed myocarditis, whilst a case of Pfizer vaccine-associated-myocarditis is reported as the cause of death in a 22 year old man in Korea.
  • VAERS - the American version of the Yellow Card reporting system - released new data on October 15th bringing the total to 818.044 reports of adverse events following Covid vaccines, including 17,128 deaths and 122,833 serious injuries.
  • DAEN Australia - the equivalent of the Yellow Card reporting system - has logged (up to October 10th) 67,063 reports of adverse events, including 589 deaths. Australia has recorded 1,432 Covid deaths to date.
  • Children (Under 18) Adverse Events U.K. - up to October 13th, MHRA report a total of 1,297 adverse event reports, comprising 1,056 Pfizer, 233 AstraZeneca, 5 Moderna and 3 unspecified. Myocarditis reports remain 10 in a million for this age group. No information is provided on fatalities.
Summary of Adverse Events in the U.K.

According to an updated report published on October 21st, the MHRA Yellow Card reporting system has recorded a total of 1,236,485 events based on 375,493 reports. The total number of fatalities reported is 1,715.
  • Pfizer (22.9 million first doses, 19.9 million second doses) now has one Yellow Card in 187 people vaccinated. Deaths: 1 in 40,603 people vaccinated (564).
  • AstraZeneca (24.9 million first doses, 24.1 million second doses) has one Yellow Card in 106 people vaccinated. Deaths: 1 in 22,616 people vaccinated (1,101).
  • Moderna (1.5 million first doses, 1.2 million second doses) has one Yellow Card in 89 people vaccinated. Deaths: 1 in 78,947 people vaccinated (19).
Overall, one in every 131 people vaccinated (0.76%) have experienced a Yellow Card adverse event. The MHRA has previously estimated that the Yellow Card reporting rate may be approximately 10% of actual figures.
  • Thrombosis & Embolism (all types) = 7,105
  • Anaphylaxis = 1,367
  • Acute Cardiac = 16,299
  • Pericarditis/Myocarditis (Heart inflammation) = 4,342
  • Headaches & Migraines = 123,251
  • Blindness = 427
  • Deafness = 608
  • Spontaneous Abortions = 603 miscarriages + 13 foetal deaths/stillbirths
  • Facial Paralysis incl. Bell's Palsy = 1,769
  • Strokes and CNS haemorrhages = 2,677
  • Guillain-Barré Syndrome = 500
  • Pulmonary Embolism & Deep Vein Thrombosis = 3,510
  • Seizures = 2,888
  • Paralysis = 1,181
  • Tinnitus/Vertigo - 3,066 (Pfizer) + 6,584 (AZ) + 323 (Moderna) + 26 (Unknown) = 9,999
  • Tremor = 11,502
  • Nosebleeds = 3,135
  • Dizziness = 35,704
  • Vomiting = 15,892
  • Reproductive/Breast Disorders - = 44,548
Further analysis can be found via the U.K. Freedom Project.

vaccine reactions uk covid
© Pfizer; Moderna; AstraZeneca; Unspecified. “F” denotes fatal.