AstraZeneca vaccine linked to rare blood clots, EU regulators conclude
European medical regulators on Wednesday concluded that there is a strong link between AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine and life-threatening conditions involving the unusual combination of blood clots and low levels of blood platelets.
As such, the conditions should be listed as a “very rare side effects” of the vaccine, according to the European Medicines Agency, a regulatory agency of the European Union.
The conclusion was based on the EMA’s in-depth review of 86 blood-clotting events among around 25 million people vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine in Europe and the UK. Of the 86 blood-clotting events, 18 people died. Most—but not all—of the cases occurred in women under the age of 60. The events reviewed by the EMA included 62 cases of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), a rare form of stroke in which a clot prevents blood from draining out of the brain. The remaining 24 cases involved splanchnic vein thrombosis, which involves blood clots in the veins that drain blood from the abdomen.
