Covid vaccines: how many adverse reactions? 0.099% of the total, according to Aifa

How many adverse reactions were there to Covid vaccines in Italy? Few, just 0.99% of the total. This is stated in the report from AIFA, the drug agency which periodically monitored and collected reports. The data becomes relevant again after Astrazeneca decided to withdraw its vaccine across the planet. A move, according to the company’s statements, essentially dictated by market issues (at the moment there would be overabundance of doses available).

The eleventh pharmacovigilance report drawn up by Aifa takes into consideration all five vaccines used in the anti-Covid campaign in the period included between 27 December 2020 and 26 February 2022, i.e. the most intense period of the prevention campaign. In this period of time they reached AIFA 134,361 reports of adverse reactions to Covid vaccines out of a total of 135,849,988 doses administered. The resulting percentage is precisely 0.099%.

Among the cases under observation, 82.1% are caused by symptoms considered mild (injection or muscle pain, fever, feeling of tiredness). The first dose caused a slightly higher rate of adverse reactions than the second. The figure drops further on the occasion of the third injection. The disorders almost always emerge on the same day the vaccine was administered. In general – according to what was surveyed by Aifa – they have been highlighted 18 adverse events per 100,000 doses.

Another interesting fact concerns compensation requests advanced due to adverse vaccine reactions. In this case the data is partial and does not come from Aifa but from Lombardy region, where 8,700,000 inhabitants were vaccinated. According to data from Guido Bertolaso’s health department, in June 2023 97 compensation applications had been submitted in the most populous region of Italy. Of these, 66 were deemed eligible: within these, 22 have already been rejected, 3 have had a positive response and 42 were still waiting to be processed.