Vaccination facts and myths

There have been a great many statements made about COVID-19 vaccines on social media over the past year or so, some expressing valid concerns, sadly many others expressing dangerous myths.

Some of the myths are due to misunderstandings - sadly some others are based on deliberate fraud or fakes although not everyone who shares them is a liar or aware of the fact that they are circulating lies.

Some social media companies have done a better job than others in working against dangerous "fake news" on their platforms and there has been some great work done in myth-busting about vaccines by some of the "factchecker" services like "Full Fact."

I have had comments aimed at me at on social media in respect of one particular group of myths to which I would respond as follows:

The truth is that

The approved COVID-19 vaccines have had their clinical trials and are not experimental.

During those clinical trials the vaccines were rigorously tested on thousands of volunteers in accordance with the "Nuremberg Code."

The rollout of the vaccines following MHRA approval is not an experiment and the Nuremberg code for medical experiments does not apply to that rollout. 

If you want to lean more about vaccines and their effectiveness and safety the best place to go is to official websites such as the Government COVID-19 information page, the NHS website COVID page, or the JCVI page.

Or if you are seeking advice about whether a particular vaccination is right for you or a member of your family, talk to your GP or an appropriately qualified medical professional.