Covid-19: First UK vaccine safety data are “reassuring,” says regulator

The UK's medicines regulator has described the first safety data related to covid-19 vaccines as "reassuring," with most side effects reported being mild and in line with those seen with other types of vaccine."The benefits continue to far outweigh the risks," said June Raine, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).The agency published yellow card data for covid-19 vaccines given between 9 December 2020 and 24 January 2021, which comprise 22 820 reports from 7 164 387 first doses and 474 156 second doses. 1 Most of the reports (16 756) are from people who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and these list 49 472 suspected reactions.Administration of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine began later, on 4 January, and 6014 yellow cards were reported up to 24 January, detailing 21 032 suspected reactions.A further 50 yellow card reports did not specify the brand of vaccine.