“Few people may rarely experience severe adverse events”: Health Ministry on COVID vaccine side-effects

Refuting claims of various side effects of COVID-19 vaccines, the Union Health Ministry stressed on Tuesday that only a small number of patients who get COVID-19 immunisations may have serious adverse events due to specific predisposing circumstances. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, a recent media report stated that the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) and the CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organization) agreed to “multiple side-effects of COVID-19 vaccinations” in answer to an RTI request. According to the paper, ICMR and CDSCO experts highlighted a multiplicity of repercussions resulting from all of the COVID vaccinations.

“It is clarified that the news report is ill-informed and provides erroneous information,” said the Union Health Ministry statement.

In accordance with the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s policy of proactive disclosure matched with worldwide scientific evidence in the public domain, ICMR responded to RTI queries on the benefits and drawbacks of COVID-19 vaccines. According to the statement, the ICMR response simply provided links to reputable websites such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Center for Disease Control (CDC), and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, where compiled global evidence on various COVID-19 vaccines is available.

The Health Ministry stated that, like with all other vaccinations, persons who get various COVID-19 vaccines may have minor symptoms such as injection site discomfort, pain, headache, tiredness, myalgia, malaise, pyrexia, chills, arthralgia, and so on. Rarely, few individuals may develop serious adverse outcomes depending upon specific predisposing circumstances, the statement stated.

According to the Union Health Ministry, global research studies have indicated that COVID-19 immunisation has helped reduce illness severity by decreasing hospitalisations and fatalities caused by COVID-19, and the advantages of the vaccinations exceed any negative effects.

In India, the NTAGI (National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization) has periodically examined the advantages and adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccinations used in India and has approved the following findings: According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 220.17 crore total COVID-19 vaccine doses have been delivered so far under the statewide immunisation effort, including 95.14 crore second doses and 22.46 crore precaution doses.