According to Reuters, there's a "clear link" between the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine and blood clots in the brain. The vaccine, developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, which is 79% effective, was reported to have no such link by CNBC and other publications two weeks ago. But now Marco Cavaleri, an official at the European Medicines Agency (EMA), says although rare, "it is clear that there is an association (of the brain blood clots) with the vaccine. However, we still do not know what causes this reaction."
From Reuters:
…the EMA later said in a statement that its review of the vaccine was ongoing and it expected to announce its findings on Wednesday or Thursday. An AstraZeneca spokesman declined to comment on the matter.
The AstraZeneca shot seems to be most problematic for women under the age of 55, according to The Guardian.
While the dangers of coronavirus are so great that vaccination must not stop, he said, measures should be put in place to reduce any extra risk to women under the age of 55, who seem to be most affected…
Across Europe, some countries have already decided to give the AstraZeneca jab only to older people – over 60 in Germany and over 55 in France – while in others the use of the vaccine is still suspended.
The DSRU at Southampton University looked at cases of thrombosis (blood clotting inside the arteries) linked to thrombocytopenia (a reduction in blood platelets that usually causes bleeding but in rare cases results in clotting) and concluded that they were linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The events are very rare, however. In the UK, as of 24 March, 30 events had occurred resulting in seven deaths from 18.1m doses of vaccine, they said. In Germany, there was one event of cerebral venous thrombosis for every 46,512 women vaccinated and one female death associated with this condition for every 149,860 vaccine doses given to women of any age.
