New large study provides 'clear evidence' for Pfizer vaccine safety

A new study published by The New England Journal of Medicine provides "clear evidence" for the safety of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, which was just granted full approval by the Food and Drug Administration.

The study, a large one, took data from Israel's largest health care organization and compared vaccinated individuals to their unvaccinated peers, while also performing a similar analysis of people naturally infected by the coronavirus by matching them with those who hadn't been infected, to assess whether there was an increase in risk of adverse side effects.

The most significant risk difference for vaccinated folks was lymph node enlargement, which scientists expected. Notably, there was a small risk increase for myocarditis, or heart inflammation, but it was substantially lower than the increase for people who were diagnosed with COVID-19. In fact, COVID-19 infections increased the risk for numerous ailments in the study. Read the full results at The New England Journal of Medicine.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.