No evidence AstraZeneca vaccine causes increased risk of blood clots, says company

AstraZeneca said on Sunday that a safety analysis found no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccine had caused an increased risk of blood clots after several countries suspended the use of wildfires earlier this week.

The company said it was conducting a “careful review” of safety data after Denmark stopped launching the AstraZeneca jab on Thursday after a 60-year-old woman who received the shot developed a blood clot and died. Authorities in Norway, Iceland, the Netherlands and Ireland quickly followed suit while investigations were ongoing, saying the moves were precautionary and there was no evidence of a link.

However, the drug maker tried to quell those fears on Sunday after analyzing data from the 17 million people who have already received the vaccine.

“A careful analysis of all available safety data of more than 17 million people vaccinated in the European Union and the UK with the COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine did not reveal any increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis or thrombocytopenia at any age group. , sex, lot or in a certain country, “the company said in a statement.

AstraZeneca photography is not yet approved for use in the United States, but the company plans to file an emergency use permit in the coming weeks, Reuters reported.

AstraZeneca’s medical director, Ann Taylor, added that the number of blood clots reported among the 17 million people who received the vaccine was “less than the hundreds of cases that would be expected among the general population.” There were 15 events of deep vein thrombosis and 22 cases of pulmonary embolism in that group, “much smaller than would be expected to occur naturally,” the company added.

“The nature of the pandemic has led to increased attention in individual cases and we are going beyond standard practices for monitoring the safety of authorized drugs in reporting vaccination events to ensure public safety,” Taylor said in a statement.

These comments were backed by the European Medicines Agency earlier this week, which said there was currently “no indication” of a link between the vaccine and blood clots and that the benefits of the jab outweigh any risks.

“The position of the EMA safety committee … is that the benefits of the vaccine continue to outweigh its risks and the vaccine can continue to be administered while the investigation of cases of thromboembolic events is ongoing,” the agency said.

The AstraZeneca vaccine faced a number of public relations failures during its testing and launch phases. Clinical studies have shown that it has a lower efficacy rate than other top vaccines, namely Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, but is profoundly effective in preventing severe disease and death in people taking COVID-19.

However, in some countries, hundreds of thousands of doses have remained unopened in recent weeks.