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Possible serious side effects from the Astra Zeneca vaccine discussion

Is it bad of me to suspect that a ban against Oxford/AstraZeneca for all under a certain age is unnecessary?

Given that the blood-clot figures still seem pretty tiny??

And has any direct causal link yet been proved?

Opinion will vary.

It doesnt matter to me that the numbers are quite small. It is all about the risk-reward balance, and given the reduced risk of very bad Covid outcomes in younger people, the balance ends up different once some vaccine risk is added to our thinking. As soon as there is a chance of the risk outweighing the reward for certain groups, I would start to err on the side of limiting that vaccines use. Especially if other vaccines are available.
 
Plus such concepts could be combined with emerging supply realities. The UK was planning on having millions of AZ vaccines from India that they are now not getting at this particular stage. Under these circumstances, coupled with what I just said about risk-reward balances, I dont think I'd struggle too much with decisions to change the plan.

For me it would be more a question of exactly what to set the cut-off age at. Given my aversion to risk, I suspect I'd be tempted to set it a bit higher than 30, but if I were contributing to such decisions I would have paid more attention to the key data than I actually have so far.
 
EU drug agency denies already finding causal link between AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clots
Europe’s drug regulator has denied it has established a causal connection between the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and a rare blood clotting syndrome, after a senior official from the agency said there was a link.

In a statement to Agence France-Presse, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Tuesday it had “not yet reached a conclusion and the review is currently ongoing,” adding that it expected to announce its findings on Wednesday or Thursday.

Marco Cavaleri, the EMA’s head of vaccines, had earlier told Italy’s Il Messaggero newspaper that in his opinion “we can say it now, it is clear there is a link with the vaccine … But we still do not know what causes this reaction.”

Concerns over rare but serious blood clotting events in a small number of recipients have dogged the vaccine in recent weeks, with more than a dozen European countries briefly suspending its use last month pending an EMA investigation.

 
I was just about to post that myself, clearly their head of vaccines spoke too early, and we will have to wait & see until tomorrow or Thursday.
 
And, another hint that concerns continue to build on this.

A trial of the Oxford/ AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine in children has been paused as regulators investigate a possible link with rare blood clots in adults.

The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is investigating a potential association with the jab.

Parents have been told to be in touch with the site where their child received the vaccine if they have concerns.

But Oxford made clear no problems had arisen within the trial itself. It said, however, that it was waiting for the results of the MHRA review before it administered any more doses to children.

 
Just announced - the EMA is holding a press briefing at 3pm today, concerning the AZ vaccine & blood clots issue.
 
I expect they will soon, I am sure the EMA & MHRA will be sharing notes.

3PM:

The 3pm joint MHRA/JCVI briefing will feature:

Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, deputy chief medical officer for England

Dr June Raine, chief executive of the MHRA

Sir Munir Pirmohamed, chair of the Committee of Human Medicines (which advises the government on the safety of medicines)

Prof Wei Shen Lim, chair of the JCVI

51m ago 12:52
 
Cheers for the heads up on that, elbows, I had a gut feeling that the MHRA would be doing a briefing around the same time as the EMA, the pressure on both to make announcements has been building over the last few days.
 
The mic is open on that feed and I've been trying to listen in to chatter, sounds like things might be slightly delayed due to the slides not coming through in a timely way. But I've only half-heard that and have no sense of how much delay.
 
So, the EMA is sticking to the benefits outweigh the risks, and a little bit surprising, that these unusual blood clotting events should only be considered a 'possible' side-effect.
 
Under-30s are to be offered an alternative Covid jab to the AstraZeneca vaccine due to mounting evidence linking it to rare blood clots, the UK's vaccine advisory body says.
A review by the drugs regulator MHRA found by the end of March 79 people in the UK suffered rare blood clots after vaccination - 19 of whom died.
The regulator said this was not proof the jab had caused the clots.
But it said the link was getting firmer.
The regulator said the side-effects were extremely rare and the vaccine's effectiveness was proven.

 
The depressing thing about this is that antivax twats will jump up and down saying “we were right”, rather than it being an example of the scientific testing and evaluation process working.

Surely a key tenet for that lot is the conspiracy factor? They're keeping the truth from us etc

I know its not as thought through as this.
 
AZ has been given worldwide. It would be good if they were reporting the worldwide incidence of the rare blood clots, not just the UK. Germany and the Netherlands have reported this problem as occurring especially in younger women. It would be useful to see a study collating all the available evidence. If I were a younger woman, I don't think I'd be very keen on this particular vaccine.
 
AZ has been given worldwide. It would be good if they were reporting the worldwide incidence of the rare blood clots, not just the UK. Germany and the Netherlands have reported this problem as occurring especially in younger women. It would be useful to see a study collating all the available evidence. If I were a younger woman, I don't think I'd be very keen on this particular vaccine.
If I was under 50 male or female I would be dubious.
 
I recall at one point all the vaccine deaths involved patients on Heperin but this may be out of date info.
 
I'm starting to feel uneasy about quickly this has all developed. My understanding is, that vaccines go through rigorous testing over much longer periods that these current ones.

All the usual trails were carried out, with ten of thousands of volunteers for each vaccine, as per any other vaccine trails, there were no short cuts, this article explains why these vaccines were developed so quickly - Less than a year to develop a COVID vaccine – here's why you shouldn't be alarmed

The problem here, is the events are so rare, they wouldn't normally be picked-up in the trails, it's only when millions of people have received a jab that these rare events are picked-up.
 
Under 30s being given a choice to have an alternative feels like quite a strange announcement. What if you’re 30. (Not that I am)
 
I'm 43 and will happily take it. My g/f is mid 30's and is happy to have it, though she is a scientist herself so has perspective on this.

Aspirin will make me very ill because of an allergic reaction. There are many deaths each year to really common medication such as ibuprofen yet they are still eaten like smarties. Show me a medication with zero unwanted effects and I'll show you something that is totally inert.

This is my view. It is obviously right though as the risk of covid is reduced by age the risk of unwanted effects become greater and this should be taken into consideration.

I'm starting to feel uneasy about quickly this has all developed. My understanding is, that vaccines go through rigorous testing over much longer periods that these current ones.

There is no guarantee years and years of testing would have reached this conclusion. It is the scale of the situation that has flagged this up.
 
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