Andrew Gwynne MP to Sir David Norgrove – statistics on surveillance of COVID-19 vaccines

Dear Sir David,

I am writing to raise concerns over recent comments made in Parliament by Sir Christopher Chope, Member of Parliament for Christchurch.

In a recent question on the 31st of March during Cabinet Office Questions, Mr Chope stated that “there is another NHS treatment disaster in the making, in the fact that there may be 10,000 or more people who have suffered serious injury or even death as a result of adverse reactions to the Covid-19 vaccinations”.

The Covid-19 vaccination programme has saved countless lives and enabled us to reclaim many liberties which we were forced to forfeit over the course of the pandemic. Mr Chope’s claim is baseless and extremely dangerous.

Recent data included in the UKHSA’s Covid-19 vaccine surveillance report shows that the rates of death concerning Covid-19 are consistently lower for the triple-vaccinated in all age groups in comparison to the unvaccinated. Covid-19 vaccines are safe and effective, and reports of serious side effects are very rare. To quote these misleading statistics in the House of Commons Chamber is therefore profoundly
irresponsible.

I am unsure as to where Mr Chope has generated these false figures from, but it seems that he has either inadvertently or deliberately misrepresented Yellow Card Data, which cannot be relied on to calculate a fair estimate of the number of genuine severe Covid-19 vaccine side effects.

I am sure that you will agree that Members of Parliament have a duty to use statistics – particularly those related to public health – accurately and in a manner that reflects the influence of an elected representative. I therefore request that you investigate Mr Chope’s statement and would welcome your view on his remarks.

Kind regards,

Andrew Gwynne

Shadow Minister for Public Health