Link between AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine and thrombosis confirmed

04/06/2021 7:51 AM

• Clarín.com

• Society

Updated 04/06/2021 7:51 AM

A head of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) confirmed "a link" between AstraZeneca's vaccine against the coronavirus and the thromboses registered among people who received that vaccine, he assured this Tuesday in an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero.

"Now we can say, it

is clear that there is a link with the vaccine

, which causes this reaction. However, we still do not know why (...) In the next few hours we are going to say that there is a link, but we still have to understand why it happens, "said Marco Cavaleri, head of vaccine strategy at EMA.

The European authority must

officially

pronounce

on this issue, Cavaleri said.

"We're trying to have a clear framework of what is happening, to define the syndrome from the vaccine (...) Among those vaccinated have seen a number of cases of cerebral thrombosis among the young than we expected.

That we're going to have to say it,

"he explained.

Suspicions about possible serious but rare side effects have been raised among people vaccinated with AstraZeneca for several weeks.

It would be cases of atypical thrombosis,

some of them have caused death.

In the UK there were 30 cases and seven deaths out of a total of 18.1 million doses administered up to March 24.

A vaccination center in Madrid, Spain, where the Oxford vaccine is given.

For the EMA, "a causal link with the vaccine has not been demonstrated," according to the executive director, Emer Cooke, explained several days ago.

For the European agency, according to current scientific knowledge, "

there is no evidence to support restricting the use of this vaccine in any population

."

Atypical phenomenon

For Paul Hunter, a specialist in medical microbiology at the University of East Anglia, interviewed by AFP, "the evidence points more

towards the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine as the cause,

" he said.

The problems seen in some people vaccinated with AstraZeneca are not common thrombi (blood clots), as originally reported, but a "very atypical" phenomenon, stressed the French Medicines Agency (ANSM).

It is about "thrombosis of the large veins, atypical due to their location (mostly cerebral, but also digestive), which may be associated with thrombocytopenia (a deficiency of blood platelets) or coagulation problems", such as bleeding, according to ANSM.

In mid-March, the Paul-Ehrlich Medical Institute (PEI), which advises the German government, reported a "surprising accumulation of a very unusual specific form of cerebral venous thrombosis, associated with a deficiency of blood platelets."

According to specialists, this very specific picture leads us to think of a phenomenon called disseminated intravascular coagulation (DICD).

As a precaution, several countries have decided to stop administering this vaccine to some age groups, including France, Germany and Canada.

For AstraZeneca, the benefits of the antidote from the Anglo-Swedish laboratory in the prevention of covid-19 outweigh the risks of side effects and assured on Saturday that "patient safety" is its "top priority."

With information from AFP.

Look also

Coronavirus in England: free tests twice a week for everyone and health passport

Coronavirus in France: people refuse to get vaccinated with AstraZeneca and the doses remain in the refrigerators