Coronavirus vaccine: are there any side effects?

Vaccination in Belgium will begin in early January: 600,000 doses will be available. This vaccine is known to be around 95% effective. Are there any contraindications for certain more fragile audiences? Several questions remain unanswered.

It’s about to be licensed, but what do we really know about this vaccine which will be on the market early next year? First of all, it requires two doses 28 days apart. For example, if the first injection is done by January 3, it will be necessary to wait for the 31st of the same month for the second. Tested on 43,500 people since the end of July, the results of clinical trials are very encouraging. The vaccine is 95% effective. Alain Fischer professor of immunology indicates: “This is very good news, especially as no significant adverse events have been reported yet within two to three months of vaccination.”

Good efficacy on the elderly

No or few side effects, headache and fever have been reported. But questions remain. The elderly will be the first to benefit. Is this vaccine suitable for this segment of the population? The data transmitted by the laboratories seem to confirm this. Charlotte Martin is an infectious disease specialist at CHU Saint-Pierre. It develops: “Good efficacy on the elderly and not a lot of side effects. It seems to be a well suited vaccine for our main target population of the over 65s.”

But some experts are waiting for details. Because among the tens of thousands of volunteers who participated in clinical trials, there are no immunosuppressed people or people with renal failure. Could the vaccine have contraindications? Jean-Michel Dogné, expert at the WHO Global Vaccine Safety Committee: “Kidney failure or hepatitis will be major issues. They are excluded from clinical studies and we know that in nursing homes, this represents a significant population, especially those with kidney failure. “ Discussions are yet to take place as to whether these people will be contraindicated.

No obligation

The European Medicines Agency will have to analyze the benefit of the vaccine and measure it against the risk it could generate. The health authorities advocate dialogue with the elderly. Yvon Englert is Covid 19 Commissioner for Wallonia: “Most people in institutions have families with whom they discuss and often also have a very special attachment to their attending physician. It is in these discussions that their expression of consenting or not to be vaccinated will emerge.”

The vaccine is not compulsory. 600,000 doses will be available in Belgium at the start of January, but it will be necessary to wait for the green light from the European Medicines Agency on December 29, before being able to start vaccinating the priority population.

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