COVID-19: Study confirms blood clot as side effect of AstraZeneca vaccine

A new study has confirmed that the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine carries a small risk of rare blood clots with low platelets after the first dose.

According to the study led and funded by AstraZeneca, the vaccine has no extra risk of blood clots after the second dose, the estimated rate of Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome after the first dose was 8.1 per million in those inoculated.

“After the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, branded Vaxzevria and invented by Oxford University, the rate was 2.3 per million, comparable to that seen in unvaccinated people,” AstraZeneca stated.

AstraZeneca senior executive Mene Pangalos said in a statement that, “Unless TTS was identified after the first dose, these results support the administration of the two-dose schedule of Vaxzevria, as indicated, to help provide protection against COVID-19 including against rising variants of concern.”

The European Union’s drugs regulator has been looking into cases of TTS since March and has found a possible link to Vaxzevria, and to Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 shot. It has, however, maintained that the overall benefits of both vaccines outweigh any risks posed by them.

As of the cut-off date, 13 cases of TTS had been identified globally after the second dose in people aged 45 years to 85 years, including eight women. Some 399 cases were reported after the first, the study showed, while data used for the number of doses administered was limited to the EU, European Economic Area, and Britain.

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