Side effects of Covid-19 vaccinations in Switzerland

According to information from Swissmedic, approximately 3.7 million vaccine doses were administered in Switzerland up to and including May 18, 2021, and approximately 1.24 million people were fully vaccinated. Retrospectively, Swissmedic said the reporting rate has declined somewhat in recent weeks, falling from one report to 0.8 reports per 1,000 doses vaccinated. Most notifications report more than one reaction (a total of 5931 reactions in the 2269 notifications, or an average of 2.6 reactions per notification).

Fever and headache as secondary symptoms in both mild and severe cases

The most commonly reported reactions in cases classified as serious were fever, headache or migraine, shortness of breath, herpes zoster reactivation, fatigue, muscle pain, malaise, hypersensitivity, anaphylactic reactions, nausea, chills, vomiting, and blood pressure elevation. Because a report contains more than one reaction in most cases, reactions such as fever or headache are reported in cases that are considered severe overall as well as in non-severe cases.

Severe cases often seen in older individuals with preexisting conditions

In 84 of the severe cases, the individuals died at varying time intervals after vaccination. The deceased were on average 82 years old and the majority had severe pre-existing conditions. These reports were analyzed particularly carefully, according to Swissmedic, and final autopsy results are pending in a few cases. Despite a temporal association, according to current knowledge, diseases occurring independently of the vaccinations, such as infections, cardiovascular events, or pulmonary and respiratory diseases, led to death. Currently, there is also no international evidence that either mRNA vaccine leads to an increased rate of death.

Source: Swissmedic