AstraZeneca vaccines linked to FEWER blood clots than Pfizer’s, figures show
THE ASTRAZENECA Covid vaccine has come under intense scrutiny for being linked with blood clots, causing an EU pause on its use.
But data suggests slightly fewer people have had a blood clot after the AZ jab compared with Pfizer.
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Both vaccines are being rolled out in the UK having gained regulatory approval and are considered safe and effective by the MHRA.
So far 24,453,221 people in the UK have been given the first of two doses of either one of the vaccines.
UK monitoring has found about 0.0003 per cent of people have developed a blood clot after.
Around 30 blood clots were reported by 9.7 million people given AZ doses by late February.
In comparison, the figure was 38 cases among the first 10.7 million recipients of the Pfizer jab - just slightly higher.
The figures are lower than what would be expected in the general population, suggesting neither one "causes" blood clots, although this is still being closely investigated.
According to data collected by AZ, of 17 million people in the EU and the UK to have received the jab, fewer than 40 cases of blood clots have been reported to date.
Despite this, Europe has needlessly turned its back on the vaccine - developed by scientists at University of Oxford.
Twenty EU nations have suspended use until more information is available, including France, Germany and Italy.
The extra cautious measures came after several cases of blood clotting in people who had recently been given the vaccine, including some deaths.
The UK's MHRA - backed by the Prime Minister - has fiercely defended its continued use of the vaccine, urging Brits to take their invite when it comes.
The MHRA, World Health Organization and even EU regulators have insisted there is no evidence the blood clots were caused by the jabs.
There are many reasons for people developing the ";uncommon" conditions, including being overweight and over 60.
Even healthy fit people can develop a blood clot for no clear reason.
And experts have said blood clots linked to AZ's coronavirus vaccine are more likely caused by Covid-19 itself, based on weighing up probabilities.
Sterghios A. Moschos, associate professor at Northumbria University, said the chance you’ll get a blood clot from the vaccine is 10,000 times lower than from Covid itself - 0.00021 per cent compared with two per cent.
Today the European Medicines Agency (EMA) admitted it wasn't only the AZ vaccine that had been linked with blood clots.
But executive director Emer Cooke said the focus of the EMA's investigation would be on the AZ jab for unspecified reasons.
Asked about reports of blood clots in relation to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and how these compared with reports for AstraZeneca, she said: “We are looking at adverse effects associated with all vaccines.
“At the moment the current focus, because of the reported instances in Europe, is of the AstraZeneca (vaccine) but we have looked at the background rates for all the vaccines currently in circulation and it looks like there are similar numbers coming in across the world.
“But that’s something that will have to be evaluated by our committee.”
Ms Cooke said confirmed there is currently "no indication" the AZ vaccine had serious blood clotting side effects.
It comes as Italy's medicine regulator AIFA shamelessly said the bans were politically driven.
The director general Nicola Magrini told Italian daily newspaper la Repubblica the vaccine was safe, but added: “We got to the point of a suspension because several European countries, including Germany and France, preferred to interrupt vaccinations… to put them on hold in order to carry out checks. The choice is a political one.”
French Europe Minister Clement Beaune admitted the suspension heaped "political pressure" on AstraZeneca amid the ongoing supply dispute.
He told Radio Classique: "There are concerns. And more than that, probably a number of breaches of contract.
“Europe is not going to be some sort of cuddly 'care bear' that hands over its money and expects nothing in return.
“We will defend our interests. There may be legal recourse. We are not ruling it out.”
Political decisions have been criticised for clashing against top experts who regulate medicines, .
The European Commission’s Sylvain Giraud of DG Sante : "What is the point to have scientific institutions like [European Medicines Agency] and WHO if decisions on vaccines are taken on political grounds?
"Resisting scientists' advice now seem to be seen as a good point for politicians."
Amid the war on AstraZeneca, millions of people in Europe are waiting for a Covid vaccine.
As doses of the potentially life-saving jab are shelved, Europe is seeing huge spikes in infection rates once again.
With a third wave on the horizon, British experts have said pausing vaccines could do "more harm than good", spelling a "disaster" that costs lives.
Peter Openshaw, professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, said: “I think it is a disaster for the vaccination uptake in Europe, which is already on slightly unsteady ground in some countries.”
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Asked what he would say to those in the UK who are booked to receive the vaccine, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I really wouldn’t be worried at the present time.
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“I think it is very clear that the benefits of being vaccinated at the moment so far outweigh the possible concern over this rather rare type of blood clot.
“It really is a completely one-sided argument statistically that we need to be vaccinating."