A recent study published in the journal Vaccine has provided important background incidence rates for adverse events of special interest (AESI) in COVID-19 vaccine safety monitoring. The study, conducted by the U.S. CDC Global COVID Vaccine Safety Project and the Global Vaccine Data Network (GVDN), analyzed data from 197 million people across 11 member sites in Europe, Asia, North and South America, and Oceania.
The study captured data from five pre-pandemic years (2015–2019) and the initial year of the pandemic (2020) to compare the occurrence of medical conditions before and after the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines. Conditions studied included myocarditis, pulmonary embolism, and Guillain-Barré syndrome.
The aim of analyzing background rates is to identify potential vaccine safety signals and support early safety investigations. The findings of the study will help countries investigate reports of medical events following vaccination and enhance vaccine safety monitoring. The GVDN Co-Directors, Dr. Steven Black and Dr. Helen Petousis-Harris, emphasized the importance of these large-scale studies in assuring the safety of vaccines, supporting public confidence, and guiding policymaking decisions.
In line with a commitment to transparency, the GVDN will make all the studies publicly available to support greater vaccine safety, informed risk assessments, and stronger communication efforts. The data related to this background rates study can be accessed on a dashboard available to the public at globalvaccinedatanetwork.org/Data-Dashboards.
This collaborative global effort in vaccine safety monitoring is crucial in ensuring the ongoing safety of COVID-19 vaccines and maintaining trust in their effectiveness.
Source: University of Auckland [No URL provided]
More information:
– A. Phillips et al, Background rates of adverse events of special interest for COVID-19 vaccines: A multinational Global Vaccine Data Network (GVDN) analysis, Vaccine (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.08.079
