COVID-19 vaccines: updates for April 2021
A summary of advice recently issued by the MHRA relating to coronavirus (COVID-19), up to 21 April 2021.
Here we include a summary of key MHRA advice issued up to 21 April 2021 and since the publication of the March 2021 edition of Drug Safety Update.
We continue to publish the summaries of the Yellow Card reporting for the COVID-19 vaccines being used in the UK. The report summarises information received via the Yellow Card scheme and will be published regularly to include other safety investigations carried out by the MHRA under the COVID-19 Vaccine Surveillance Strategy.
The MHRA encourages anyone to report any suspicion or concern they have beyond the known, mild side effects on the Coronavirus Yellow Card reporting site.
We have also recently:
- Issued new advice concluding there is a possible link between COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca and extremely rare and unlikely to occur blood clots (7 April 2021)
- Revised the COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca product information for healthcare professionals, including further clarification on specific pre-existing medical conditions where the vaccine should not be given, and those pre-existing conditions where particular caution is needed; the information for UK vaccine recipients has also been updated (15 April 2021)
See guidance on COVID-19 for all our latest information, including after publication of this article.
We previously included a summary of latest advice in the January 2021, February 2021 and March 2021 issues of Drug Safety Update.
Article citation: Drug Safety Update volume 14, issue 9: April 2021: 2.