No new cases of blood clots linked to AstraZeneca Covid vaccine for a month, major study finds
VACCINE blood clots are no longer a problem in the UK and the last case was a month ago, scientists say.
Experts led by Oxford University have declared the scare over because health chiefs stopped giving the AstraZeneca jab to under-40s.
In a study they linked 220 clots directly to the vaccine, with nearly nine out of 10 in people younger than 60.
One in four patients – 23 per cent – died after developing the condition, now named vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis, or VITT for short.
This death rate was three times higher in people who developed the clot in their head and also had a brain bleed, at 73 per cent.
But the NHS stopped giving the AstraZeneca jab to under-40s on May 7 and the number of new cases has “dramatically reduced” as a result.
Dr Sue Pavord, a blood doctor at Oxford University Hospitals, said: “Thankfully the surge of cases is largely over and we haven’t really seen a new case of VITT for about three or four weeks now.”
Prof Michael Makris, from the University of Sheffield, added: “Since about the seventh of June the number of cases in the UK has dramatically reduced.
“We hardly see any new cases and even with the second dose the number of cases we are seeing is tiny.”
The team said the condition is very rare, with one case per 50,000 vaccinated under-50s, but that it could be “devastating” and deadly for patients.
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Around 25million people in the UK have been given the AstraZeneca vaccine but most young adults have had Pfizer because of the health scare.
Experts still don’t know why young people are worse affected by clots and many of the victims had been healthy before their jab.
Professor Marie Scully, from University College London Hospitals, said: “We don’t know why it affects younger people.
“It’s not clear at all but prevalence within the younger group is much higher.”
The scientists laid out typical cases of the condition and said symptoms usually appeared between five and 30 days after someone got their first jab – the average was two weeks.
We haven't seen a new case for three or four weeks
Dr Sue Pavord
One “totally healthy” woman in her 40s developed an “overwhelming” headache and became drowsy when she fell ill, they said, and a man in his 40s felt his legs go completely numb and end up with no pulse because a clot had blocked his blood supply.
The team said around half of patients had good health before developing the clots, and the most common places to find clots were near the brain, in the legs or lungs, or near the liver or spleen.
In their study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the team set out advice for how doctors can spot the condition and treat it, which they hope will help other countries.
Dr Pavord added: “Now we are not seeing new cases because the vaccine is not given to the under-40s – they are offered the Pfizer vaccine instead.
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“We haven’t seen new cases for the last four weeks or so, so this has been a tremendous relief.
“What we have learnt in the UK is hugely important to other countries because if they can recognise this condition early and manage it well then it allows the vaccine rollout to continue.”
