Digging Deeper Into EudraVigilance (part 3)
A word about record duplication
Death is bad enough without it being duplicated and in part 1 of this series I highlight the problem we face if we try and count fatalities using the information provided for the public on the EudraVigilance website. Fatalities are classified by reaction group and if somebody dies because of cardiac arrest and only cardiac arrest then there isn’t a problem. However, if other things go wrong then that death will be counted under each and every pertinent reaction group. This problem is overcome by using the line report system and downloading the raw data, with each record representing one individual. Except that there is another duplication wrinkle…
Individuals will be represented twice in the database if they switch between products. Thus somebody whose first dose was AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria who is then advised to switch to Pfizer’s Comirnaty will have a record under each product. I’ve gone through the raw data looking for these switches and offer this colourful screenshot so you get a …