Covid-19 vaccine clinical trial: FOI release

Information requested

1. What is the percentage of placebos given out??

2. Why are places not sign posted explaining its a trial ??

3. Why are ingredients and previous animal experiments not published in the public domain??

4. Why has Scottish government allowed experimental potion to continue even though the figures in the MHRA yellow card scheme are horrendous??

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. This is because the Scottish Governments vaccination program is not a clinical trail, as such the percentage of placebos administered is zero. Every person who attends a clinic for a COVID-19 vaccine in Scotland receives a dose of one of the approved COVID-19 vaccinations.

If you are referring to the phase 1 through 3 clinical trails, which would be run separately for each vaccine brand by the manufacture, you will have to contact each vaccine manufacture for each brand of COVID-19 vaccine you wish to know this information for, and for which stage of the clinical trail, some manufactures have run multiple trails in different countries so the percentage of placebos to actual doses may vary. Much of this information has likely been published in scientific journals, which may or may not be available online depending on the trail.

As with all Medicines and medical products in the UK, COVID-19 vaccines are subject to the scrutiny of the Medicines and Healthcare products regulatory agency, who have given temporary marketing authorisation to 4 COVID-19 vaccines under regulation 174 of the Human Medicine Regulations 2012. The Joint Committee on vaccination and immunisations ( JCVI ) which provides advice to all bodies on the UK on vaccinations, has recommended these vaccines for use in everyone over the age of 16, no UK government has significantly deviated for JCVI advice in over 25 years.

As park of the authorisation of COVID-19 vaccinations, the medical properties and ingredient lists are published online, and are available here : Pharmacy - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Regarding data from the MHRA yellow card scheme, a death recording in the yellow card scheme after having received a COVID-19 vaccine is not the same as the vaccine having been responsible for that death. Each adverse event is recorded individually, if a patient experiences more than one side effect, each effect will be recorded individually as one instance of an adverse reaction. All adverse events of any type, are recorded regardless if a vaccine is suspected as a contributing factor. You can view an analysis and a breakdown by vaccine type of the yellow card reports here : Coronavirus vaccine -
weekly summary of Yellow Card reporting - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The National records of Scotland, as part of their weekly report on COVID-19 deaths in Scotland have recently began to publish data on deaths due to adverse events regarding COVID-19 vaccines. In their weekly report for week 27 July 2021, they found a total of 4 death certificates where an adverse reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine was listed as the underlying cause of death in Scotland since the start of our vaccination program. Over 3.8 Million people in Scotland have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. As of August 6th 2021, 7893 people have died with COVID-19 listed as the underlying cause on their death certificate. You can view the report here : Deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland, Week 27: Report (nrscotland.gov.uk)

About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.