Symptoms such as blood clots after vaccination with AZ vaccine… 1 death
“One is in the midst of blood clots and cerebral hemorrhage”… Health authorities “thorough investigation of whether it is related to vaccines”
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Danish authorities reported on the 20th (local time) that two medical workers who were vaccinated against the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) of AstraZeneca (AZ) had symptoms of blood clots and cerebral hemorrhage, and one of them died. did.
The remaining one of these two was also in serious condition, authorities said.
Danish health officials confirmed that they had received two serious cases reported that day, and said that both had been vaccinated within 14 days of AZ.
The authorities did not disclose specific information, such as when the two people started getting sick.
Earlier, Denmark announced on the 11th that a 60-year-old woman who received the AZ vaccine in her country died after forming a blood clot, and that it would temporarily suspend its use for two weeks as a preventive measure.
This is the second case of death after AZ vaccination in Denmark, according to the New York Times (NYT).
The European Medicines Agency (EMA), an agency that evaluates medicines and vaccines in the European Union, said on the 18th that blood clots were formed after vaccination with AZ, saying, “The AZ vaccine is safe and the benefit is greater than the risk of side effects.” Among the countries that had withheld AZ vaccination, some countries, such as Germany, France, and Italy, have resumed vaccination this week.
Danish health officials say they need more time to decide whether or not to use the vaccine, Reuters reported.
The authorities said, “We will prioritize cases suspected of serious side effects and thoroughly investigate whether there is any association with the vaccine.”
AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical company, reaffirmed its position that the safety of the vaccine is a top priority and hopes that vaccination can be resumed across Europe after a careful decision by regulatory authorities, without giving an immediate answer regarding the case of a blood clot in Denmark.
With regard to the occurrence of blood clots in some of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, the scientific community is working to determine the cause through several hypotheses. Some claim that vaccination triggers rare antibody formation, leading to blood clots, and that oral contraceptives may be the cause.
Earlier, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) held an extraordinary meeting of the Safety Committee and, based on the information gathered so far, concluded that the AZ vaccine was not associated with an increase in the overall risk of blood clots. However, it did not completely rule out the association with a very rare thrombosis known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST).
Many scientists say that there is no definitive evidence yet as to whether the AZ vaccine causes blood clots, and if so, why.
German and Norwegian researchers, once several cases of blood clots were reported, presumed that antibodies produced during the vaccine’s triggering an immune response triggered the blood clots. Professor Andre Pahlholm of the University Hospital in Oslo, Norway, who treated three patients, made this hypothesis at a press conference on the 18th, saying, “We made a discovery that could explain the clinical progress of our patients.” However, Professor Holm said the findings were tentative and did not provide any data to support them.
A research team at the University Hospital of Greifswald in Germany announced on the 19th that they reached a similar conclusion. He said that treatment could be possible if this proved correctly.
EMA researchers are also conducting a number of investigations to determine if the clot is related to the AZ vaccine or if it occurred by chance. They are especially noting that cases like this were mainly seen in young women.
Although CVST has been very rare, it has been recognized as being related to the use of pregnant women or oral contraceptives. “This is one of the things we need to investigate soon,” said Javine Strauss of the EMA Safety Committee.
US experts, who have not yet been approved for use of the AZ vaccine, are cautious about the antibody hypothesis. In particular, as the case of blood clots after AZ vaccination received attention, clinicians reported more cases, which again pointed out that there is a concern that vaccination may appear to be associated with blood clots.
U.S. experts are also raising doubts that unlike other Corona 19 vaccines that cause antibody formation, such as Pfizer, Modena, Johnson & Johnson, and Russia’s Sputnik V, only the AZ vaccine has a high rate of blood clots.
The AZ vaccine, like the Johnson & Johnson and Sputnik vaccines, is a virus carrier vaccine. Accordingly, it is expected that scientists will be able to accurately evaluate the findings of Norwegian or German researchers after peer-reviewed and published.
/ Reporter Kihyuk Kim [email protected]
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