Vaccines – facts not fiction

The Covid-19 vaccines being used in Northern Ireland have been approved as safe and effective by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) the drugs and medicines regulator.

Don’t let misinformation trick you into missing out on the protection and opportunities that being vaccinated brings.

Key facts:

1) Millions of Covid-19 vaccines have been dispensed, saving many thousands of lives. Without them we would be in a much worse situation right now, given the rapid spread of the Covid Delta variant.

2) Each Covid vaccine passed all the same regulatory tests as other vaccines.

They were made available so quickly because of an unprecedented global effort. 3) Vaccines have successfully defeated other killer diseases over the years. Despite this, a small number of “anti-vax” campaigners continue to spread distortions and lies about vaccines in general. Groundless anti-vax conspiracies were around well before Covid. They will be here long afterwards too.

Don’t let them put your safety at risk.

4) Due to an improved supply, the vaccines now available to everyone aged 18 years and over across Northern Ireland are Pfizer and Moderna. The MHRA has publicly identified very rare cases of a severe reaction following FIRST DOSES of a different vaccine, AstraZeneca, involving blood clots. As a result the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended that those aged 18-39 years of age should be offered an alternative to the AstraZeneca vaccine.

5) The MHRA intervention was about very rare severe reactions following FIRST DOSES of AstraZeneca, NOT SECOND DOSES. JCVI has been ver y clear in its updated advice - if you got an AstraZeneca first dose, you should get your second dose of the same vaccine – unless clinically advised otherwise.

Getting double jabbed significantly increases protection – particularly against the Delta variant. Covid is the risk we need to worry about.