AstraZeneca vaccine causes blood clots: People should not panic and get blood clotting tests

Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca announced on May 7 that it has begun recalling its Covid-19 vaccine worldwide because there is currently "a surplus of modified vaccines available" for the disease. The AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine is being accused of causing a rare side effect that can lead to blood clots and thrombocytopenia, causing concern among people.

Vaccine ngừa Covid-19 của AstraZeneca. — AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.

Sharing about this issue, Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Quang Thai, Head of the Northern Vaccination Office, Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Ministry of Health said that before deploying the Covid-19 vaccine, thrombocytopenia (blood clots) was not a new thing because this is a disease found in many different diseases such as: infection, genetics, people who have been lying down for a long time...

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), when the Covid-19 vaccine was deployed, the world recorded an increase in thrombocytopenia. By April 2021, WHO issued a warning that the phenomenon of blood clots after the AstraZeneca vaccine injection was a confirmed phenomenon and could be related to the vaccine.

However, at that time, the rate of people having blood clots after vaccination was rare and the benefits of vaccination were higher than the risks. If detected early and promptly, people with this condition could be saved. Considering the benefits and risks, WHO still recommends that people get vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Regarding side effects in Europe, Mr. Thai said that before 2019, in the European community, the rate of people with spontaneous blood clots ranged from 10-30/1 million people, depending on the country. With such a rate, people experiencing blood clots is not a rare case (possibly due to old age, lying in the same position for too long, or infection, having certain genetic characteristics...).

Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Quang Thai.

Meanwhile, in Asia or South America, the rate of thrombocytopenia is extremely low compared to Europe, recorded at about 0.2/1 million doses, for every 10 million vaccinations, only 2 cases of blood clots were found. More importantly, after 21 days, no blood clots were detected. Anyone who has been vaccinated for 21 days without this phenomenon can be completely assured. That is the basis for showing that the implementation of vaccination in Vietnam is very safe.

WHO has issued a treatment regimen for thrombotic thrombocytopenic syndrome and the Ministry of Health has also immediately updated the regimen to handle unfortunate cases of vaccine-related thrombotic thrombocytopenic syndrome.

In Vietnam, through the post-injection reaction monitoring system, we have recorded cases of thrombotic thrombocytopenia, including cases transferred to Bach Mai Hospital for treatment.

According to this expert, although Vietnam is behind and has late access to vaccines, we have the advantage of taking advantage of the experience of other countries that have encountered problems. We also have a protocol for preventing thrombosis and thrombocytopenia, and this protocol is simple and can be used at the commune level for emergency treatment.

"During the implementation process in Vietnam, the rate of thrombotic thrombocytopenic syndrome was even lower than the recorded rate in the world, which is less than 0.2/1 million doses, meaning that out of about 10 million cases, less than 2 people in Vietnam experienced this condition. And all cases of thrombotic thrombocytopenic syndrome were handled very well," said Mr. Thai.

A study 2 years after the vaccine was deployed worldwide showed that, in people with a history of blood clots and people without a history of blood clots, after 21 days, there were no cases of this pathological condition appearing.

"That is the scientific basis for us to confidently say that those who have completed the safe and effective vaccination campaign are safe. Since July 2023, Vietnam has not administered the AstraZeneca vaccine, a period of time much longer than we were concerned about, so people can rest assured and not worry about blood clots," said Mr. Thai.

Regarding the issue of people worrying about wanting to get tested, Mr. Thai said that people do not need to worry and cause unnecessary worries.

AstraZeneca is the first Covid-19 vaccine approved for conditional import into Vietnam since February 2021. This vaccine is researched and developed by AstraZeneca Pharmaceutical Company in collaboration with Oxford University (UK).

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Dac Phu, former Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine, Ministry of Health, since July 2023, Vietnam has used up this type of vaccine, so there is currently no risk of developing thrombosis accompanied by thrombocytopenia syndrome after being vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine. Therefore, for those who have been vaccinated with this vaccine, there is no need to perform a D-dimer test or any blood clotting test because there is no longer a risk of thrombosis and thrombocytopenia in those who have been vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine nearly a year ago.

"The Ministry of Health recommends that people need to continuously update information from reliable and official sources to have a more complete view of epidemic prevention and control measures and clearly understand the benefits of vaccination," said Mr. Phu.

Recalling the time 3 years ago, Associate Professor Pham Quang Thai expressed that in the early stages of fighting the Covid-19 epidemic, the virus's momentum was very high, overloading the healthcare system, leading to people dying not from Covid-19 but from their underlying diseases or other diseases that the healthcare system could not promptly treat.

Therefore, the value of vaccines is immeasurable, not only in saving specific people who are vaccinated against Covid-19, but also in saving the health system in reducing the problem of overload related to Covid-19 pathology.

In Vietnam, the AstraZeneca vaccine has been licensed for conditional use by the Ministry of Health since February 1, 2021 to meet urgent needs in the prevention and control of the Covid-19 epidemic. This is the first Covid-19 vaccine imported and deployed for vaccination in Vietnam. To date, Vietnam has deployed more than 266 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine for people aged 5 and over, of which 70 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine have been used for the first injections and booster shots for people aged 18 and over.

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