This is a troubling development
A pre-print of a study is out on blood clots around the AstraZeneca vaccine and it's looking increasingly clear that there's a causal relationship.
Germany was the first to pull the plug last time and that could mean dominoes across the EU, which will slow the vaccine rollout considerably.
According to @PEI_Germany about 2.7 million people have now been vaccinated with AstraZenaca vaccine in Germany.
Amongst these:
- 31 cerebral venous thromboses (29 women)
- 19 of these also with thrombocytopenia reported
- 9 deaths
Meanwhile, Norway has vaccinated 130,000 people with AstraZeneca and they have seen five such cases, three of whom died. That's a lot, about one case in 25,000 vaccines.
However in the UK, they've only reported 5 cases among 10 million doses.
This is the German research paper that caused a re-think on the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Results. The 9 patients (8 female; median age, 36 [range, 22-49) presented with thrombosis beginning 4 to 16 days postvaccination: 7 patients had cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT), 1 had pulmonary embolism, and 1 had splanchnic vein thrombosis and CVT; 4 patients died. None had received heparin prior to symptom onset. All four patients tested strongly positive for anti-PF4/heparin antibodies by immunoassay; all 4 patients tested strongly positive in the platelet activation assay in the presence of PF4 independently of heparin. Platelet activation was inhibited by high concentrations of heparin, Fc receptor-blocking monoclonal antibody, and intravenous immunoglobulin.
Conclusions. The AZD1222 vaccine is associated with development of a prothrombotic disorder that clinically resembles heparin-induced thrombocytopenia but which shows a different serological pro
We could see other countries follow Canada's example and recommend it only for older people.
One theory is that the vaccine interacts with birth control.
