Durban — The International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (ICMRA) said the fact that discomfort had been reported as a suspected side effect does not mean that the vaccine caused it.

The ICMRA said this while addressing some misinformation spread around the Covid-19 vaccines.

The authorities also denied any severe side effects rumoured to be caused by vaccines.

Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that Covid-19 was no longer a public health emergency of international concern but the national Department of Health in the country said this did not mean that Covid-19 was no more.

Department's spokesperson Foster Mohale said: “The pandemic remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality, especially in high-risk populations such as the elderly and people living with comorbidities.”

The ICMRA said regulators constantly analyse the reports about side effects to see if there may be a causal link with the vaccine.

In a statement, it said this was done by comparing the rate of a medical event in vaccinated people with the rate of events in the population before the pandemic and before vaccination.

“As part of this robust and continuous safety monitoring, regulators also consider any other available evidence such as evidence from studies.

“Most of the time, reported suspected side effects are not caused by the medicine concerned. If any safety problem is detected, regulators take action quickly as happened when there were reports of rare cases of unusual blood clots with adenoviral vector vaccines,” read the statement.

The ICMRA said more than 13 billion doses of vaccines had been administered in mass vaccination campaigns worldwide.

They said reports of death following vaccination were very rare.

“During mass vaccination campaigns, when millions of people are being vaccinated, it is expected that some deaths will occur by chance shortly after vaccination.

“The fact that deaths are reported after vaccination does not mean that the vaccine caused them,” said the ICMRA

The authorities further said the false information about Covid-19 vaccines can result in deaths or severe disease if people avoid getting the vaccines they need.

Moreover, it said some people misinterpret the numbers of deaths or suspected side effects reported in vaccine safety databases.

There was no evidence that Covid19 vaccines are causing excess mortality, but they have saved millions of lives, it said. It added that there was no evidence to indicate that Covid-19 vaccination causes immune impairment.

Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla revealed that more than 28 million vaccine doses valued at R3.8 billion are estimated to go to waste.

“The estimated number of doses of vaccine that may go to waste is: Janssen vaccines 20 780 450. The Pfizer vaccine is 7 479 930,” he said.

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