DESPITE receiving nearly 50,000 reports of potentially fatal cardiac adverse events following the rollout of AstraZeneca’s covid vaccine, the UK’s medicines regulator continued to assure the public that the vaccine was safe and effective.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) received 48,472 cardiac event reports in 2021 alone but made no attempt to suspend the jab, denying a causal link. Data from a freedom of information (FOI) request shows that almost half the reports were received in the first three months after the rollout.
By late March 2021, 23,914 cardiovascular events had already been reported in the 18 years-plus age group. (Data shows11,600 children received first doses plus 10,000 second doses resulting in 248 Yellow Cards giving a reporting rate of 1-in-47.)
According to MHRA data, in addition to heart issues they received 6,175 reports of blood-clotting events during the same period. The number of heart-related reports was roughly 685 per cent higher than the number of blood-clot reports received by the MHRA during the same period the previous year.
Vaxzevria, the vaccine’s brand name, became known as the ‘clot shot’ on social media as it caused vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT). Potentially fatal blood clots could form in the brain, abdomen, lungs or large veins, usually 5-30 days after the first vaccination. By the end of 2021, 1,182 Vaxzevria related fatalities had been reported to the MHRA’s early warning Yellow Card Scheme.
By the beginning of March 2021, at least 17 European countries, but not the UK, temporarily paused Vaxzevria’s administration while they waited for the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to review its safety. The EMA concluded their investigations three weeks later and by the end of March, said they recognised that 1 in 100,000 could develop VITT. They concluded they were ‘happy with its overall safety profile’. They also dismissed any link to heart issues as coincidental.
Denmark, Norway and Iceland stopped using Vaxzevria altogether in April 2021, while other countries restricted its use to over-60s. The UK permitted its use in over-40s which resulted in unnecessary deaths while many over-40s, including author Sally Bayley, 53, who lectured in English literature at the University of Oxford and received the jabs in May and July 2021, suffered permanent injury.
In the UK, a group of more than 50 claimants launched a legal claim against AstraZeneca in the High Court, alleging that injuries and deaths were caused by the company’s covid vaccine. The case is being pursued under the Consumer Protection Act 1987, which allows individuals to seek compensation if a product is ‘defective’ and causes harm.
The UK and other countries began phasing out its use in 2022 and Vaxzevria was officially withdrawn by the EU in 2024 at AstraZeneca’s request. The company cited ‘a decline in demand’ as the reason.
Heart conditions, principally myocarditis and pericarditis, were acknowledged by the Government as ‘very rare’. A ‘small number’ were linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine, they said, but were dismissed by epidemiologists as not caused by the jab.
The Government’s website reported the following: ‘As of 23 November 2022, there have been 851 reports of myocarditis and 579 reports of pericarditis following the use of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. There have been 251 reports of myocarditis and 149 reports of pericarditis following the use of the Moderna vaccine. Some cases have been reported following the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine but given the extensive use of AstraZeneca in the UK, these are thought to reflect the expected background incidence rate of myocarditis and pericarditis.’
Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle, which can reduce the heart’s ability to pump blood and can cause chest pain, shortness of breath, or irregular heartbeats. Pericarditis is inflammation of the thin sac surrounding the heart, often causing sharp chest pain.
AstraZeneca is a British-Swedish pharmaceutical company based in Cambridge that collaborated with the University of Oxford to develop a covid vaccine using a modified chimpanzee adenovirus vector.
Sarah Gilbert, Professor of Vaccinology at Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Medicine, initiated the project and led the development team. Under her leadership, the vaccine progressed rapidly into human clinical trials and global deployment, becoming one of the first covid vaccines to be widely used in more than 180 countries, although it was never approved in the United States. Gilbert received a damehood in 2021 for her role in the vaccine’s design.
The FOI was submitted in October 2025 by epidemiologist Dr Tom Jefferson, Senior Associate Tutor at the University of Oxford, and co-analysed by his colleague Carl Heneghan, Professor of Evidence Based Medicine at the university. They received the data in November that year, and published their findings in their Trust the Evidence Substack.
In their second post they said: ‘To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time anyone (outside the powerful) has seen the reports submitted to the MHRA regarding serious potential harms during the first period of the rollout.’
The MHRA continue to insist that the benefits outweighed any harms caused by Vaxzevria.
Here is the full adverse event report up to January 5, 2022. At the time, TCW was raising the alarm over the 1-in-47 children reports for AstraZeneca doses recorded as administered.
MHRA YELLOW CARD COMBINATION REPORTING SUMMARY UP TO 5TH JANUARY 2022 (Data published 13th January 2022)
Adult – Primary & Booster/Third Dose, Child Administration
• Pfizer – 25.3million people – 47.2m doses – Yellow Card reporting rate – 1-in-162 people impacted
• AstraZeneca – 24.9m people – 49.1m doses – Yellow Card reporting rate – 1-in-103 people impacted
• Moderna – 1.6m people – 3m doses – Yellow Card reporting rate – 1-in-50 people impacted
Overall, 1-in-120 people injected experiences a Yellow Card Adverse Event, representing immense human suffering. A significant proportion require urgent medical care, may be life changing or long lasting in effect, which may be less than 10% of actual figures according to MHRA.
Adult Booster or 3rd Doses given = 34,834,288 people
Booster Yellow Card Reports – 24,402 (Pfizer) + 371 (AZ) + 13,156 (Moderna) + 121 (Unknown) = 38,050
Reactions – 446,903 (Pfizer) + 855,968 (AZ) + 106,996 (Moderna) + 4426 (Unknown) = 1,414,293
Reports – 156,250 (Pfizer) + 241,657 (AZ) + 32,133 (Moderna) + 1442 (Unknown) = 431,482 people impacted
Fatal – 684 (Pfizer) + 1182 (AstraZeneca) + 29 (Moderna) + 37 (Unknown) = 1932
Blood Disorders – 16,056 (Pfizer) + 7728 (AZ) + 2228 (Moderna) + 62 (Unknown) = 26,074
Pulmonary Embolism & Deep Vein Thrombosis – 801 (Pfizer) + 2,991 (AZ) + 73 (Moderna) + 25 (Unknown) = 3,890
Anaphylaxis – 615 (Pfizer) + 863 (AZ) + 76 (Moderna) + 2 (Unknown) = 1556
Acute Cardiac – 10,703 (Pfizer) + 10,766 (AZ) + 2,408 (Moderna) + 83 (Unknown) = 23,960
Pericarditis/Myocarditis – 1,047 (Pfizer) + 414 (AZ) + 256 (Moderna) + 6 (Unknown) = 1,723
Infections – 10,568 (Pfizer) + 19,679 (AZ) + 1861 (Moderna) + 136 (Unknown) = 32,244
Herpes – 2,048 (Pfizer) + 2,639 (AZ) + 208 (Moderna) + 20 (Unknown) = 4,915
Blindness – 142 (Pfizer) + 309 (AZ) + 23 (Moderna) + 4 (Unknown) = 478
Eye Disorders – 7,310 (Pfizer) + 14,641 (AZ) + 1,276 (Moderna) + 82 (Unknown) = 23,309
Deafness – 268 (Pfizer) + 418 (AZ) + 40 (Moderna) + 4 (Unknown) = 730
Spontaneous Abortions – 425 + 1 premature baby death + 1 miscarriage related death/ 13 stillbirth/foetal deaths (9 recorded as fatal) (Pfizer) + 229 + 5 stillbirth (AZ) + 51 (Moderna) + 4 (Unknown) = 709 miscarriages
Skin Disorders – 31,329 (Pfizer) + 52,749 (AZ) + 11,702 (Moderna) + 308 (Unknown) = 96,088
Psychiatric Disorders – 9,307 (Pfizer) + 18,117 (AZ) + 2,075 (Moderna) + 104 (Unknown) = 29,603
Headaches & Migraines – 33,635 (Pfizer) + 93,545 (AZ) + 8,280 (Moderna) + 323 (Unknown) = 135,783
Vomiting – 4,914 (Pfizer) + 11,594 (AZ) + 1,587 (Moderna) + 59 (Unknown) = 18,154
Nervous System Disorders – 75,192 (Pfizer) + 180,996 (AZ) + 17,398 (Moderna) + 816 (Unknown) = 274,402
Strokes and CNS haemorrhages – 707 (Pfizer) + 2,245 (AZ) + 34 (Moderna) + 13 (Unknown) = 2,999
Guillain-Barré Syndrome – 83 (Pfizer) + 483 (AZ) + 9 (Moderna) + 6 (Unknown) = 581
Facial Paralysis incl. Bell’s Palsy – 1,001 (Pfizer) + 978 (AZ) + 119 (Moderna) + 10 (Unknown) = 2,108
Tremor – 2,020 (Pfizer) + 9897 (AZ) + 570 (Moderna) + 50 (Unknown) = 13,538
Seizures – 1,023 (Pfizer) + 2028 (AZ) + 232 (Moderna) + 16 (Unknown) = 3,299
Paralysis – 463 (Pfizer) + 855 (AZ) + 81 (Moderna) + 8 (Unknown) = 1,407
Respiratory Disorders – 19,633 (Pfizer) + 29,211 (AZ) + 3,489 (Moderna) + 185 (Unknown) = 52,518
Reproductive/Breast Disorders – 27,738 (Pfizer) + 20,196 (AZ) + 4,211 (Moderna) + 177 (Unknown) = 52,322
CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE SPECIAL REPORT
Suspected side effects reported in individuals under 18yrs old
• Pfizer – 3,000,000 children (1st doses) plus 900,000 second doses resulting in 2471 Yellow Cards
• AZ – 11,600 children (1st doses) plus 10,000 second doses resulting in 248 Yellow Cards – Reporting rate 1-in-47
• Moderna – 21,500 children (1st doses) and 16,000 second doses resulting in 16 Yellow cards
• Brand Unspecified – 11 Yellow Cards
Total = 3,033,100 children injected
Total Yellow Cards Under 18s = 2,746
For full reports including 339 pages of specific reaction listings – Click here
