Adverse Reactions, Death: The Latest Update on Covid Vaccination

25-01-2021 by Mirai

In its latest situation update on January 22, the National Agency for Drug Safety (ANSM) reports the latest data that has been transmitted to it on possible adverse effects and deaths related to the Sars-CoV vaccine.

In a new update of the situation dated January 22, the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) reports the number of serious and non-serious adverse reactions that occur after the injection of a vaccine against Covid-19 .

The ANSM ensures that most of the reported adverse effects correspond to expected or non-serious adverse effects, in particular to reactogenicity effects, that is, expected reactions and, often, signs of an excessive immune response, such as fever, headache and nausea.

"A total of 31 cases of serious adverse reactions were analyzed, including 4 cases of episodes of tachycardia. These cases will be the subject of further investigation," says ANSM.

The Agency also specifies that allergy cases have been observed, including two corresponding to possible cases of anaphylaxis. These two cases "were favorable very quickly, without complications. Neither resulted in a life-threatening outcome; neither corresponded to anaphylactic shock," explains the public health agency.

Nine deaths analyzed, in elderly with comorbidities

Although a single case of death validated on January 15 was included in the data sent by ANSM to the informant Regional Pharmacovigilance Centers (CRPV), 8 additional cases of death were analyzed as part of the evaluation of pending cases. These cases were received by the ANSM until January 19, the deadline for the analysis of pending cases that are included in the report.

The ANSM has been reported of nine deaths that occurred in the days following a vaccination against Covid-19 with the COMINARTY vaccine from Pfizer / BioNTech.

"These were older people, most of whom had severe comorbidities. Given the current knowledge about the Comirnaty vaccine and the information provided on the cases to date, there is nothing to conclude that the reported deaths are linked to the vaccination ", estimates the ANSM, adding however that these cases and the corresponding data continue to be closely monitored as part of vaccine surveillance.

It should also be noted that the ANSM has not been informed of any case of adverse reaction with the Moderna vaccine. A finding that should be taken with caution since this vaccine only received a green light from the High Authority for Health on January 8.