LONDON – The British medical regulator said on Saturday that out of thirty people who got blood clots after receiving the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, seven died. It did not disclose any information about their ages or health conditions.
The British recognition of deaths comes because several European countries have suspended the use of the AstraZeneca jab due to a possible link with blood clots.
The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, or MHRA, said in a statement that “out of the 30 reports up to and including March 24, unfortunately 7 have died.”
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The MHRA has urged people to continue using the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine. It is said that it is not clear whether the shots caused the blood clots, and that the “careful investigation into the British reports of rare and specific blood clots continues.”
In total, MHRA said 30 cases of rare blood clot events had been identified from 18.1 million doses of AstraZeneca administered up to 24 March. The risk associated with this type of blood clot is ‘very small’, he added.
“The benefits of COVID-19 vaccine AstraZeneca in preventing COVID-19 infection and its complications still outweigh any risks, and the public should continue to receive their vaccine when invited to do so,” said Dr. June Raine, chief executive of the agency, said.
Concerns about the vaccine against AstraZeneca have already prompted some countries, including Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands, to restrict its use to older people. The UK, which launches coronavirus vaccines faster than other European countries, is particularly dependent on the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed by scientists at the University of Oxford.
The European Medicines Agency shares MHRA’s views on the relative benefits of the vaccine. It is said that a causal link between unusual blood clots in people who have had the vaccine has not been proven, but is possible, and that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks of side effects. The EMA is expected to announce updated advice on the issue on April 7.
The World Health Organization has also called on countries to continue the sting.
Adam Finn, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Bristol, said the “extreme rarity” of blood clotting events in the context of the millions of jabs administered in the UK makes the decision of people very simple.
“Receiving the vaccine is by far the safest choice to minimize the individual risk of serious illness or death,” he said.
A more detailed look at the MHRA’s findings shows that 22 of the 30 cases are related to cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, which prevents the blood from draining from the brain, and eight are related to other low-platelet thrombosis events.
It is said that there have been no reports of blood clotting events surrounding the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, which has also been widely launched in the UK.
The Netherlands stopped vaccination with the AstraZeneca sting for men under the age of 60 on Friday after five new cases among women, one of whom died.
Germany made a similar decision earlier this week.
AstraZeneca said last month following US efficacy trials that the vaccine is 79 percent effective in preventing the disease and that it does not increase the risk of blood clots.
The UK administered more than 31 million initial vaccine doses, using both the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech samples. People cannot choose which one they get.
In June 2020, the United Kingdom ordered 100 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and supported its development. 30 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were also ordered in the same year.
