Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of people have reported side effects from the AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccination.

The Yellow Card Scheme is the system used in the United Kingdom for reporting adverse drug reactions (ADRs). This acts as an early warning system for the identification of previously unrecognised adverse reactions and also provides valuable information on recognised ADRs, allowing the Commission on Human Medicines and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to identify and refine the understanding of risk factors that may affect the clinical management of patients.

As of 5 May 2021, 55,716 Yellow Cards have been reported for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine which has administered an estimated 20.1 million doses, or a proportion of 0.277%.

For the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine 167,141 Yellow Cards have been reported against an estimated 30.8 million doses administered, or a proportion of 0.543%.

There have been 1,081 Yellow Cards reported for the Moderna vaccine with an estimated 0.1 million doses administered.

There have been 606 Yellow Cards reported where the brand of the vaccine was not specified.