New CDC Study Finds the Vaccines Are Quite Safe and Side Effects Are Rare

By Anna Breuer on 19 February 2021
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A nurse at a N.Y.C. vaccine center waits for a patient

Just as 41 million Americans had received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine on Friday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had some fairly reassuring news: “Health care providers and vaccine recipients can be reassured about the safety of Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines,” the CDC said in a paper published in Morbidity and Morbidity Weekly.

The report, which covers the first month of vaccinations, namely from December 14, 2020 through January 13, 2021, notes that, during this period, a total of 13,794,904 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered in the United States, mostly to workers in the healthcare field as well as to residents of long-term care facilities.

The data conclusively shows that the vaccines are safe and that side effects are rare.  The study covered the two vaccines currently in use in the United States, one from Pfizer-BioNTech and one from Moderna.

Researchers found that headache, fatigue, and dizziness were the most frequently reported symptoms after vaccination with either vaccine, although none impacted any more than 22% of those vaccinated.

Although the numbers are dropping, some people remain wary of the vaccines, worrying they were rushed to market or have unreported side-effects.

The agency gathered the information used in the report from a new monitoring system, V-Safe, that was created to track any symptoms from the vaccines.  Participants would voluntarily enroll and complete daily short surveys reporting symptoms, if any.

The CDC said that the post-inoculation tracking was “the most intense and comprehensive in U.S. history.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)

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