CDC report: COVID-19 vaccine safety reporting for first 13.8M doses reassuring

Safety monitoring during the first month of the COVID-19 national vaccination program shows “reassuring safety profiles” for the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported today.

Emergency use authorizations for the vaccines require providers to report adverse events to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. About 91% of VAERS reports between Dec. 14, 2020, and Jan. 13, 2021, were for non-serious events and involved local and systemic symptoms, the authors said. Reported cases of anaphylaxis, a life-threatening but treatable allergic reaction, totaled 4.5 per million doses administered, comparable with those reported for other vaccines, they said.

The 113 deaths reported to VAERS over the period were consistent with expected all-cause mortality and did not suggest a causal relationship with vaccination, the authors said.