Vaccine safety and effectiveness: how is it tested?
The scale of the COVID-19 pandemic has shown how essential vaccination is for today’s world. It has also shown how quickly we can develop vaccines when we really need to: we can thank open international scientific collaboration, advances in vaccine technology, substantial investment and speedy regulatory review for the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines.
The swift delivery of multiple COVID-19 vaccines surprised many people, including experts—but rapid development doesn’t mean cutting corners. All vaccines need to pass many tests and stages before they reach you, and COVID-19 vaccines are subject to the same thorough regulation and review processes as other vaccines.
We’ve previously explored what happens during clinical trials and why some people experience adverse events after vaccination. Here we look at how scientists and health authorities keep a close eye on the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, including after those vaccines are rolled out to the public.