Assessing the long-term safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines - Azeem Majeed, Marisa Papaluca, Mariam Molokhia, 2021

Vaccines for COVID-19 were eagerly awaited, and their rapid development, testing, approval and implementation are a tremendous achievement by all: scientists, pharmaceutical companies, drugs regulators, politicians and healthcare professionals; and by the patients who have received them. But because these vaccines are new, we lack long-term data on their safety and efficacy.

In surveys of people who define themselves as ‘vaccine hesitant’, this lack of long-term data is one of the main reasons given for their beliefs. Hence, providing this information is a public health priority and could help reassure vaccine-hesitant people that receiving a COVID-19 vaccine is the right choice for them. Emerging data from the UK and elsewhere are confirming the benefits of COVID-19 vaccines and this is one of the factors that is leading to a reduction in vaccine hesitancy in the UK population.

The news that two UK recipients of the COVID-19 Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine suffered severe allergic reactions on the first day of its rollout illustrates the need for accurate recording of any adverse events following administration of COVID-19 vaccines. These allergic reactions were unexpected and led to procedures being put in place to prevent further episodes of anaphylaxis after vaccine administration. Further concerns were raised after a high death rate was reported in elderly vaccine recipients in Norway. More recently, an association has been reported between the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and clotting disorders, which led to some countries restricting the use of the vaccine in younger people.

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NIHR ARC NWL are working to tackle concerns about COVID-19 vaccines, especially within the BAME community. If you have any articles to support the reduction of vaccine hesitancy in the community, please feel free to share with us.