COVID-19 vaccines: here are the adverse effects
The importance of vaccines in the fight against COVID-19
COVID vaccinations have played a crucial role in containing the pandemic, significantly reducing the potential number of deaths. According to the World Health Organization, vaccines have prevented millions of deaths. However, with the increase in the number of vaccinated people, side effects, although rare, have also become the subject of in-depth studies. Recently, a publication in the magazine Vaccines drew attention to these aspects, providing new insights thanks to the analysis of a large sample of data.
An International Study on Vaccine Safety
The project Global COVID Vaccine Safety, in which about ten nations participated including the United States, Canada, Australia and various European countries (excluding Italy), examined data relating to 99 million vaccinated people, totaling approximately 250 million doses . The vaccines analyzed include those of Moderna, Pfizer-Biontech and AstraZeneca. The objective was to identify any pathological events with a higher frequency in the 42 days following administration of the vaccine, up to the fourth dose.
The Main Side Effects Detected
The analysis highlighted five pathologies with a higher frequency than normal:
- Neurological:
- Guillain-Barrè syndrome after the first dose of AstraZeneca.
- Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, severe brain inflammation, after the third dose of Moderna.
- Cardiological:
- Myocarditis, mainly after the second dose of Moderna.
- Pericarditis, after the first dose of AstraZeneca.
- Hematological:
- Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis after the first dose of AstraZeneca.
Other conditions were detected but their incidence was too low to confirm statistical significance.
Considerations on the Clinical Impact of Adverse Events
Despite the increase in frequency of some adverse events, they remain extremely rare. For example, transverse myelitis, while statistically significant, was observed in only a few cases out of millions of doses administered. This suggests that, while vaccine safety is critical, the rarity of serious events should not dissuade the use of vaccines.
Conclusions
The research largely confirms what is already known about the side effects of COVID vaccines, but offers a more robust perspective thanks to the large cohort examined. It is crucial to continue monitoring and studying side effects as we move forward with global vaccination campaigns. Transparency and information sharing remain key to maintaining public trust in vaccination programmes.
