[ad_1]
A paramedic prepares doses of AstraZeneca vaccine for patients at a walk-in COVID-19 clinic inside a Buddhist temple in the Sydney suburb of Smithfield on August 4, 2021.
Said Khan | AFP | Getty Images
A new study has provided more details on the “rare but devastating” blood clotting complications associated with the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.
In a peer-reviewed article published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, scientists from the Massachusetts Medical Society analyzed the first 220 cases of the disease reported in the UK.
Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine – now one of the most widely used Covid vaccines around the world – was rolled out to the UK in January, making it the first country to administer the vaccine.
A very small number of people who have been inoculated with AstraZeneca vaccine suffered from blood clots. The condition, described by health authorities as “extremely rare” is characterized by blood clots accompanied by low platelet levels.
The Massachusetts Medical Society study used data from 294 patients who presented to UK hospitals between March 22 and June 6. Of these, 170 definite and 50 probable cases of rare coagulation – which scientists have called vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis – have been identified.
All of these patients had received their first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and went to hospital with symptoms between five and 48 days after their vaccination. The median time between patients receiving their vaccination and going to the hospital was 14 days, according to the results.
The overall death rate for VITT in the study was 22%.
The researchers also found that 41% of patients with VITT had no underlying health conditions diagnosed. Among those who reported past or current illness, the study found that there were no prevalent conditions or medications that “would be unexpected in the general population.”
“In the context of a successful vaccination program in the UK, VITT has become a rare but devastating complication,” the study authors said in their report. “We have found that it often affects otherwise healthy vaccinated young people and is associated with high mortality.”
“In our cohort, 85% of patients were under 60 years old, despite the predominance of vaccination (Oxford / AstraZeneca) in the elderly,” noted the scientists.
As a precaution, the UK has offered people under 40 an alternative to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine Since May.
People identified as having suffered from VITT were between 18 and 79 years old, with the median age being 48, according to the study.
Until July 28 inclusive, around 24.8 million first doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine had been administered in the UK, with around 23.6 million second doses received.
As of July 28, government figures show that for every million first or unknown doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, 14.9 people have developed rare blood clotting with low platelet counts. This fell to 1.8 cases per million after a second dose of the vaccine.
The overall case fatality rate for that period was 18%, according to government data, with 73 deaths. Six of these occurred after the second dose.
At the end of last month, AstraZeneca published a study which found that the level of VITT after the first dose of its vaccine was 8.1 per million, which declined to 2.3 per million after a second dose.
As of July 28, 411 suspected cases of VITT have been reported in the UK, according to official data.
Benefits vs Risks
In a statement released Thursday, AstraZeneca said the research published in the New England Journal of Medicine was taken from “a small sample.”
“Recent real-world evidence from millions of people shows that AstraZeneca’s vaccine has a safety profile comparable to that of other vaccines and that the incidences of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia are extremely rare and treatable,” said a spokesperson.
The spokesperson added that there was “a much greater risk” of rare blood clotting events when contracting Covid-19.
“Vaccines remain the most effective protection against Covid-19 and are the best way out of this pandemic,” they said.
UK and EU drug regulators have identified possible links between the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and rare blood clots.
In April, the company said it would comply with regulatory requests in the UK and Europe to update its Covid vaccine labels. However, he pointed out that the WHO had stated that “a causal relationship is considered plausible but is not confirmed”.
The UK Joint Committee on Vaccination and Vaccination has consistently said the benefits of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine continued to outweigh the risks for the vast majority of people.
Multiple health authorities, including the WHO, the European Medicines Agency and the International Society of Thrombosis and Hemostasis agreed that the benefits of administering the vaccine outweigh the risks.
.
|
Sources 2/ https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/12/blood-clots-linked-to-astrazeneca-shot-have-22percent-mortality-rate-study.html The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article |
[ad_2]