Mario Christodoulou* recently spoke with vaccine safety expert, Dr Robert Chen, Science Director of The Brighton Collaboration — the largest global organisation of scientific experts on vaccine safety — about how vaccine safety is assessed in clinical trials and how regulators and vaccine developers are ensuring the safety of COVID-19 vaccines whilst also moving at great speed.

Dr Chen answers questions such as ‘How can we be sure safety isn’t being compromised?’ and ‘What should we be focused on once COVID-19 vaccines are introduced?’ Dr Chen is also working with CEPI, as part of the Safety Platform for Emergency vACcines (SPEAC) Project, to examine the safety profiles of the COVID-19 vaccines CEPI is funding.

*Mario Christodoulou is Communications and Advocacy Manager at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a global partnership launched in 2017 to develop vaccines to stop future epidemics.

Recent TED talk given by Helen Petousis-Harris on how vaccines are assessed for their safety and effectiveness. Despite controversial claims, vaccines have been a vital part of combating pandemic outbreaks. Lots and lots of money and time are being put into developing safe enough vaccines to be used in the community. But what is the reason for hesitancy towards vaccines?

The European Medicines Agency and the national competent authorities in EU Member States have prepared a safety monitoring plan for COVID-19 vaccines. The plan outlines how relevant new information emerging after the authorisation and uptake of COVID-19 vaccines in the pandemic situation will be collected and promptly reviewed. Read more here

The Canadian Vaccination Evidence Resource and Exchange Centre (CANVax) has provided public health professionals with access to a centralized resource centre focused on vaccine acceptance and uptake. COVID-19 Vaccine Questions and Answers for Healthcare Providers consists of evidence-based answers to questions about vaccine safety, such as ‘What measures ensure safe vaccines?’, ‘What are the common side effects expected with the vaccines?’ and ‘Should pregnant women receive the vaccine?’ Each answer is written by an expert member of the CONSIDER (COvid-19 vacciNe Safety questIons anD hEalthcare pRoviders) working group and reviewed by two or more other members. This resource will soon be available in multiple languages.

Recent webinar from Thursday November 11, 2020 entitled ‘How to assess exposure to COVID-19 vaccines’. The key question discussed was ‘How can we record and assess who received which vaccine?’ Recordings of this and previous webinars hosted by VAC4EU are available here.