In June 2020, the United Kingdom ordered 100 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
The British medical regulator said on Saturday that out of thirty people who barely got blood clots after receiving the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, seven died.
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 (MHRA) said in a statement: “Unfortunately, out of the 30 reports up to and including March 24, 7 have died.”
The reports of thrombosis, submitted by medics or members of the public via a government website, came after 18.1 million doses of the vaccine were administered in the country.
Most cases (22) were a rare coagulation condition called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis. In eight cases, people suffered other forms of thrombosis, combined with low platelet counts, which help blood clots.
There were no reports of blood clots from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the UK regulator said, adding that ‘our thorough investigation into these reports continues’.
But MHRA CEO, dr. June Raine, stressed that the benefits outweigh the risks. “The public should continue to get their vaccine when they are invited,” she said.
Europe update expected
Both the MHRA and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) say no causal link has yet been established between the blood clotting case and the AstraZeneca vaccine.
But growing concern has led a number of countries to suspend or limit vaccine vaccination to older people due to the relatively young age of those who have had blood clots.
The Netherlands on Friday stopped vaccinations with the AstraZeneca jab for people under the age of 60 after five new cases among younger women, one of whom died.
Germany has suspended use of the vaccine for those under 60 after 31 cases of blood clots, mostly among younger and middle-aged women.
A number of other countries, including France, have introduced similar age restrictions, while Denmark and Norway have suspended the use of the vaccine.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA), which, like the World Health Organization, has previously declared the AstraZeneca vaccine safe, is expected to announce updated advice on the issue on April 7.
It was said on Wednesday that there were 62 cases of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis worldwide, of which 44 were in the European Economic Area, which includes the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
However, this figure did not include all the cases of Germany.
More than 9.2 million AstraZeneca stab levels were applied in the region.
The EMA said it believes the vaccine is safe and that experts have not found any specific risk factors such as age, gender or medical history.
‘Weight of evidence’
Paul Hunter, a medical microbiologist at the British University of East Anglia, told AFP that he initially thought the link between vaccination and blood clots was probably a “random association”.
As evidence of clusters in separate countries, ‘the weight of evidence is now directed at the fact that Oxford-AstraZeneca is the cause of these adverse events,’ he said.
Nevertheless, the risk for those not vaccinated to die of Covid is ‘significantly greater’, he said.
A spokesman for AstraZeneca told AFP that patient safety is a top priority.
The UK, the EU and the World Health Organization have concluded that the benefits ‘significantly outweigh the risks in all age groups for adults’, she said.
AstraZeneca said last month after US efficacy trials that the vaccine is 76 percent effective in preventing the disease. It is also said that data for the EU and the UK do not show an increased risk of blood clots.
The UK administered more than 31 million initial vaccine doses using the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech jabs. 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 the same year.
(Except for the headline, this story was not processed by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)