{"id":502,"date":"2020-12-03T17:17:03","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T17:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/?p=502"},"modified":"2020-12-03T17:17:03","modified_gmt":"2020-12-03T17:17:03","slug":"covid-19-vaccination-separating-fact-from-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/2020\/12\/03\/covid-19-vaccination-separating-fact-from-fiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Covid-19 vaccination – separating fact from fiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Covid-19 vaccinations will kick off within days but it seems some people need a sharp dose of facts first. In an article\u00a0published in the\u00a0Daily\u00a0Mirror<\/a>, Matt Roper and I debunk some of the common myths and misconceptions about vaccines.<\/strong><\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

Scepticism about vaccines has been growing throughout the pandemic and a recent survey found that one in five British adults may refuse to take a coronavirus jab \u2013 even though it is probably our only hope of a return to normality.<\/p>\n

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  1. MYTH: A vaccine produced so quickly can\u2019t be safe<\/strong><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Most vaccines take years to develop, test and approve for public use but, says Dr Majeed, a global effort has meant scientists have been able to work at record speed.<\/p>\n

    He says: \u201cCovid-19 vaccines have to go through the same process of approval as other vaccines. Funding was made available immediately and studies set up rapidly.<\/p>\n

    “There have been a lot of technological developments that allow vaccines to be developed much more quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

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    1. MYTH: I might be allergic but won\u2019t know until I get it<\/strong><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Azeem Majeed is professor of primary care and public health at Imperial College London<\/p>\n

      \u201cAllergies to vaccines are very rare,\u201d says Dr Majeed. \u201cThey are given safely to millions of people every year.\u201d<\/p>\n

      The odds you\u2019ll have a severe reaction to a vaccine is about one in 760,000.<\/p>\n

      Being struck by lightning next year is higher at one in 700,000.<\/p>\n

      Most reactions are because of some other component of the vaccine, such as egg protein, if the person is severely allergic.<\/p>\n

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      3, MYTH: There haven\u2019t been enough tests for people with underlying conditions<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

      Dr Majeed says: \u201cThere are many vaccine trials taking place and they are being tested in people with different characteristics, such as age, sex, ethnicity and medical history.<\/p>\n

      \n

      “Results show they are safe in all groups they have been tested in.\u201d<\/p>\n

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      1. MYTH: Vaccines can overload your immune system<\/strong><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        In 2018 the myth was debunked by American researchers who examined the medical records of more than 900 infants from six hospitals.<\/p>\n

        \u00a0They found no link between vaccines given before the age of two and other infections in the following years.<\/p>\n

        \u00a0\u201cVaccines do not overload your immune system,\u201d says Dr Majeed. \u201cOn the contrary, they generate an immune response that helps reduce the risk of infection, complications and death.\u201d<\/p>\n

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        1. MYTH: The vaccine could actually give me coronavirus<\/strong><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Some vaccines contain the germs that cause the disease they are immunising against but they have been killed or weakened to the point they don\u2019t make you sick.<\/p>\n

          In the case of a coronavirus vaccine, \u201cnone that are in development contain a live coronavirus,\u201d assures Dr Majeed, \u201cand they therefore can\u2019t give you a coronavirus infection\u201d.<\/p>\n

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          1. MYTH: If everyone around me is immune, I don\u2019t need a vaccine<\/strong><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            \u201cIt\u2019s essential to achieve a high vaccine coverage so we create herd immunity,\u201d says Dr Majeed. \u201cIf people refuse to be immunised, we will continue to get outbreaks of Covid-19.<\/p>\n

            “If you decline to be immunised, you may get infected and also infect the people you come into contact with.\u201d<\/p>\n

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            1. MYTH: It\u2019s better to be immunised by catching Covid<\/strong><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              Dr Majeed says: \u201cVaccines have been shown to be very safe, whereas illnesses such as measles and Covid-19 can lead to serious long-term medical complications.<\/p>\n

              \u00a0“Vaccines have saved many lives and prevented people from being left disabled.\u201d<\/p>\n

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              1. MYTH: Vaccinated children experience more allergic, autoimmune and respiratory diseases<\/strong><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                This is another unfounded claim that has led some parents to delay or withhold vaccinations, says Dr Majeed.<\/p>\n

                \u00a0Studies examining many vaccines have failed to find a link with allergies or autoimmune disease.<\/p>\n

                \u00a0\u201cVaccines protect against many diseases and substantially reduce the risk of illness and death in children,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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                1. MYTH: Some of those taking part in trials died<\/strong><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                  Stories that Dr Elisa Granato, one of the first participants in the human trials of the Oxford vaccine, died shortly after being injected, were shared millions of times.<\/p>\n

                  \u00a0The news was false and she gave a BBC interview saying she was feeling \u201cabsolutely fine\u201d.<\/p>\n

                  \u00a0\u201cOnly one death has been reported among people taking part in trials,\u201d says Dr Majeed.<\/p>\n

                  \u00a0Jo\u00e3o Pedro Feitosa, a doctor in Brazil, was given the placebo rather than the vaccine and died of Covid-related complications.<\/p>\n

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                  1. MYTH: The swine flu vaccine left people with side effects, so why would this one be safe?<\/strong><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                    A mass vaccination programme against swine flu in the US in 1976 led to increased chances of people developing Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder.<\/p>\n

                    \u00a0Dr Majeed says: \u201cCovid-19 vaccines have been carefully tested in a large number of volunteers and found to be very safe.<\/p>\n

                    \u00a0“Once they are more widely used, there will be monitoring of people who have received the vaccines to identify any future problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

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                    1. MYTH: Vaccines cause autism<\/strong><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                      \u00a0The idea that vaccines cause autism has long been disproved but the claims have recently been doing the rounds again.<\/p>\n

                      \u00a0Last year a massive study from Denmark found no association between being vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella, and developing autism.<\/p>\n

                      \u00a0It is the latest of at least 12 other studies that have tried and failed to find a link.<\/p>\n

                      \u00a0Dr Majeed says: \u201cNo evidence has ever been found that vaccines cause autism in children.\u201d<\/p>\n

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                      1. MYTH: The Spanish Flu vaccine led to 50 million deaths<\/strong><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                        During the 1918 pandemic it was the fact there was no vaccine that caused it to infect a third of the world\u2019s population.<\/p>\n

                        \u00a0In the 1930s scientists found it was caused by a virus, with the first vaccine developed a decade later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                        Covid-19 vaccinations will kick off within days but it seems some people need a sharp dose of facts first. In an article\u00a0published in the\u00a0Daily\u00a0Mirror, Matt Roper and I debunk some of the common myths and misconceptions about vaccines. Scepticism about vaccines has been growing throughout the pandemic and a recent survey found that one in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1115,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[296231,404],"tags":[269809],"class_list":["post-502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-coronavirus","category-health","tag-vaccination"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":503,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502\/revisions\/503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}