Fewer than 1 in 28,000 people who receive a Covid-19 vaccine have serious adverse reactions, data shows

April 11, 2021 Covid-19 vaccine and world news The pandemic has brought countries to a standstill. Meanwhile, vaccinations are underway as cases continue to rise. Follow here for the latest. By <a href="/profiles/fernando-alfonso-iii">Fernando Alfonso III</a>, CNN CNN

Fewer than 1 in 28,000 people who receive a Covid-19 vaccine – less than 0.004% – have reported serious adverse reactions, according to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Vaccines Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).

Health care providers are required to report to VAERS certain adverse events following Covid-19 vaccination, including serious adverse events such as hospitalization, life-threatening reactions or death, as well as any vaccine administration errors.

The latest data in the VAERS system includes reports processed as of April 2. About 102 million people had received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, according to data reported by the US Centers for Disease Control by that date. But there were only 3,630 VAERS reports for serious adverse events for any of the three authorized Covid-19 vaccines – Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson – representing fewer than 36 in every 1 million people vaccinated.

Another 53,091 reports include less severe symptoms including soreness, headache and nausea. 

According to a disclaimer statement on the VAERS website, “vaccine providers are encouraged to report any clinically significant health problem following vaccination to VAERS, whether or not they believe the vaccine was the cause.”

Also, reports may be “incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental and unverified” and may not fully represent problems associated with vaccines.