- Britain’s medicines regulator on Thursday said there had been 168 major blood clots following a dose of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine.
- It is a rate of 7.9 clots per million doses, a jump in incidence from the previous week’s figure.
- This was up from the 100 cases reported last week, when the overall case incidence was 4.9 per million doses.
- There has been scrutiny of the AstraZeneca vaccine on the issue of the very rare clots and some countries, including Britain, have recommended that only people over a certain age get the shot.
A Telegraph India news resources reveals that there is a jump in blood clots following the vaccination of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine.
21.2 million first doses of AstraZeneca’s shot
“I would expect the true number of cases per million doses of vaccine to become clear fairly soon as these reports stabilise but it is already clear that it is going to remain a very rare event.”
There have been 21.2 million first doses of AstraZeneca’s shot given in Britain’s rollout, with all except one of the side effect case reports coming after a first dose. A total was not given for second doses administered.
There were 32 reported deaths from clots in total, compared to 22 reported last week, but the fatality rate of the reported clots dropped to 19 per cent from 22 per cent.
Britain’s advise
Britain has advised that under-30s receive an alternative to the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, after the MHRA medicine regulator found there was evidence of a link to rare clots with low platelet levels.
Officials have emphasised the side effect is “vanishingly” rare and advised that most people still get the shots. The preference for under-30s to get a different shot is mainly informed by that age group’s low risk from Covid-19, combined with Britain’s low prevalence of infection.
That differs from several European countries such as France, which has decided to restrict use of AstraZeneca’s shot to people over 55.
“On the basis of this ongoing review, the advice remains that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks in the majority of people,” the MHRA said on Thursday.
55 more cases of the B.1.617 coronavirus variant
Britain found 55 more cases of the B.1.617 coronavirus variant first detected in India in latest weekly figures, Public Health England said on Thursday, with India set to be added on the travel red list from Friday morning.
A total of 132 confirmed and probable cases of the B.1.617 variant have now been found in Britain. Health minister Matt Hancock on Monday announced India would be added to the red-list.
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Source: Telegraph India
