Freedom of Information request on adverse reactions observed to vaccine treatment (FOI 21-261)
Published 28 May 2021
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/freedom-of-information-responses-from-the-mhra-week-commencing-12-april-2021/freedom-of-information-request-on-adverse-reactions-observed-to-vaccine-treatment-foi-21-261
Thank you for you FOI request dated 15th March 2021.
Section 12 of the FOI Act specifies that a public authority may refuse requests where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for central government is set at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 24 working hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information. Unfortunately, in this instance your request falls under Section 12 of the FOI Act as the information you have requested relating to the statistical scores produced for each vaccine-event combination reported and all associated correspondences would require longer than 24 working hours to complete.
The MHRA is collecting data concerning any adverse reactions observed to vaccine treatment through our Yellow Card Scheme. We are regularly publishing Yellow Card data associated with COVID-19 vaccinations. Yellow Card data for drugs is routinely published on the Yellow Card website, with vaccine data available on request. However, for COVID-19 vaccinations we are proactively publishing details of adverse drug reactions received, including MHRA assessment of the data to provide context. Please note this data is updated weekly. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-adverse-reactions
Kind regards,
FOI Team Vigilance and Risk Management of Medicines Division