UK medicines regulator advised that anyone who has a history of ‘significant’ allergic reactions to medicines, food or vaccines should not get the Pfizer coronavirus jab.

Dr June Raine, the chief executive of the MHRA, told Parliament’s Science and Technology Committee that this was not identified in the trials.

‘We know from very extensive clinical trials that this wasn’t a feature,’ she said.

Allergic reactions to the vaccine are ‘very rare’, according to the trials involving more than 40,000 people.

Pfizer found a ‘very small number’ during its phase three clinical studies, which found 137 out of 19,000 people. This compared to a comparable 111 in a group of the same size who didn’t get the vaccine.

They also identified 12 possible side-effects from the vaccine, with seven identified as ‘very common’ meaning they are likely to affect more than one in ten people. Below are the known side effects.

The patient safety leaflet for the vaccine cautions that anyone with an allergy to any of the active substances in the vaccine should not receive the jab.

It adds: ‘Signs of an allergic reaction may include itchy skin rash, shortness of breath and swelling of the face or tongue.’

Allergic reactions to the vaccine are:

Very common (Likely to affect more than one in ten people)

• Pain at injection site
• Tiredness
• Muscle pain
• Chills
• Joint pain
• Fever
• Headache 

Common (Likely to affect up to one in ten people)

• Injection site swelling
• Redness at injection site
• Nausea 

Uncommon (May affect one in 100 people)

• Enlarged lymph nodes
• Feeling unwell