香港六合彩中特网

Over the last few weeks, COVID-19 vaccines have been a hot topic - in the mainstream media, on social media, and in our day to day conversations. 听Many of my friends and colleagues have asked for my views 鈥� both as a pharmacist and as a Professor of Medication Safety here at 香港六合彩中特网.

Have the vaccines been developed and tested properly, or have they been rushed? 听Are they safe? 听Should they have the vaccine? 听And am I going to have it?听Here are my answers to each of these questions.听

First, I hear various concerns being aired that the vaccines have been 鈥榬ushed鈥�. 听It鈥檚 certainly true that the vaccines have been developed, tested and approved at a very rapid rate. Many researchers working on other vaccines and other clinical trials refocused their efforts to work entirely on COVID-19. 听So in that sense, yes the vaccines have been 鈥榬ushed鈥�, due to urgent clinical need. 听But this does not mean speed at the expense of quality or safety. The vaccines have been tested in huge numbers of people according to clinical trials best practice.

For example, the first vaccine to be authorised for use in the UK, the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, has already been administered to more than 18,800 participants in an ongoing randomized, placebo-controlled international study, with a similar number of participants receiving a saline placebo. Participants have already been followed up for an average of two months after receiving their second dose and all outcomes will have been carefully documented.

Regulators such as the UK鈥檚 Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the US Food and Drugs Administration have then been through this data carefully to verify the vaccine鈥檚 safety before authorising its use.

Second, are they safe? It鈥檚 fair to say that nothing is 100% safe 鈥� exercising, drinking alcohol, travelling by car or bike, even walking down the pavement. And medicines and vaccines are the same. Like all medicines and vaccines, these vaccines can cause side effects. Most are mild and short-term, and not everyone gets them. For example, in the trial of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, the most common side-effects were pain at the injection site, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, joint pain, and fever.

For people who had these side-effects, they typically lasted several days and were more common after the second dose rather than the first. 听There were also more recent reports of allergic reactions in two NHS staff, both of whom had a previous history of very severe allergic reactions, and are now recovering well.听

Third, should you, and my family and friends, have the vaccine? 听For the vast majority of you, I will say a definite 鈥測es鈥�! 听The exceptions would be if you have a history of severe allergy 鈥� for example, if you have ever had an anaphylactic reaction, or if you carry an adrenaline auto-injector, then it may not be appropriate for you. 听

If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, then the advice at the moment is that you should also wait before having the vaccine. And if you aren鈥檛 sure, do your research 鈥� don鈥檛 rely on social media or other potential sources of misinformation - the NHS website has some useful and balanced information. If you have further concerns or questions, ask a health care professional so that you can explore your concerns together. 听

Finally, am I going to have it? 听Yes, without a doubt. I鈥檝e had COVID-19, and luckily it was a very mild infection. But I still don鈥檛 want to have it again 鈥� I may not be so fortunate next time. And even more importantly, I don鈥檛 want to inadvertently spread it to my patients, my colleagues, my students, my friends and neighbours, or my parents who due to their age are likely to have worse outcomes. 听I鈥檝e already put myself on the waiting list at the NHS Trust I work at, along with 3,000 other members of staff at the last count, and am awaiting details of how to book an appointment.听

Further information:

• Professor Bryony Dean Franklin staff profile
• New co-Editor-in-Chief for top quality and safety journal
• Patients should carry information about their medicines

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