The UK’s medicines regulator recorded 30 blood clot cases after the first 18 million doses of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine. The MHRA insists that the benefits of the jab still “far outweigh any known side effects”. Sky News has the story.
Thirty blood clotting cases were reported in the UK after the first 18 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the medicines regulator has said.
The figure is 25 more than previously reported.
The count was updated as part of a rolling review into Britain’s Covid vaccines, with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency stressing the benefits of the jab “far outweigh any known side effects”.
Concerns have been raised about blood clots after a tiny proportion of cases among the tens of millions who have received the AstraZeneca jab.
Some countries, such as Germany, have restricted its use to certain ages but the European medicines watchdog and the World Health Organisation both say it’s safe and effective.
The MHRA said on Thursday there had been “22 reports of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) and eight reports of other thrombosis events with low platelets”.
The figures cover December 9th 2020 to March 21st this year, when 15.8 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine had been administered, and around 2.2 million second doses.
The regulator stressed that all medicines have potential side effects and that the benefits of both Covd jabs means people should not hesitate to get vaccinated.
“The number and nature of suspected adverse reactions reported so far are not unusual in comparison to other types of routinely used vaccines,” said the MHRA report.
CVST is a rare condition and is potentially fatal. A number of countries have reported such cases in relation to the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine. The Financial Times reports:
In Norway, health officials have reported at least six such cases among 120,000 recipients of the jab, four of whom died. In Germany, 31 cases have been reported after 2.7 million vaccinations, including 29 women aged between 20 and 63, and two men aged 36 and 57. Nine of them have died.
Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) has said that the risk of blood clots is greatest for women aged under 55. Both Canada and Germany have now limited their AZ vaccine rollouts to those over 55 and 60, respectively.
The Sky News report is worth reading in full.
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