UK Health Security Agency and NHS poster titled 'COVID-19 vaccine: End to 15 minute observation after your COVID-19 vaccination!'

Poster titled 'COVID-19 vaccine: End to 15 minute observation after your COVID-19 vaccination!', from the UK Health Security Agency and the NHS, product code C2115VCEN 50K 1p DEC 2021 (APS), UK, 2021

After receiving their COVID-19 vaccine, people were initially advised to wait in the vaccination centre for 15 minutes. This was so they would be in a safe place in case they had an adverse reaction to the vaccine, in particular an allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis. However, in December 2021, the increased spread of the omicron variant meant that the waiting period was paused to speed up the rollout of the booster vaccination programme. By this point, it had also been found that there was a low rate of anaphylaxis after the COVID-19 vaccine.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, huge amounts of public health information were produced and distributed in the UK. Most of this came from the UK Health Security Agency, which was known as Public Health England until April 2021. This public health information covered a vast range of topics and was frequently updated to reflect changing guidelines and research.