UK Confirms Additional Yellow Cards Reported for COVID-19 Vaccinations

The UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued an updated Coronavirus vaccine - a weekly summary of Yellow Card reporting on August 13, 2021.

The MHRA states, 'Vaccination is the single most effective way to reduce deaths and severe illness from COVID-19.'

A national immunization campaign has been underway since early December 2020, with three COVID-19 vaccines, Pfizer-BioNTech (Comirnaty), COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca, and COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna (SpikeVax), currently being used in the UK.

The overall Yellow Card reporting rate for these vaccines is around 3 to 7 Yellow Cards per 1,000 doses administered.

As of August 4, 2021, for the UK, 101,483 Yellow Cards have been reported for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, 226,959 have been reported for the COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca, and 12,569 for the COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna.

It is important to note that Yellow Card data cannot be used to derive side effect rates or compare the safety profile of COVID-19 vaccinations as many factors can influence ADR reporting, says the MHRA.

For all COVID-19 vaccines, the overwhelming majority of reports relate to injection-site reactions (sore arm, for example) and generalized symptoms such as ‘flu-like illness, headache, chills, fatigue, nausea (feeling sick), fever, dizziness, weakness, aching muscles, and rapid heartbeat.

Generally, these happen shortly after the vaccination and are not associated with more serious or lasting illnesses.

The reported suspected side effects are broadly similar across age groups, although, as was seen in clinical trials. As is usually seen with other vaccines, they may be reported more frequently in younger adults, says the MHRA.