Clotting Linked With AstraZeneca Vaccine Very Rare, Says Oxford Study

A research team led by Dr Sue Pavord of the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust examined vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis (VITT).

The very rare blood clots that can be caused by the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine can be aggressive and deadly but is very rare, leading scientists have concluded in the findings of the first study of its kind on Thursday. A research team led by Dr Sue Pavord of the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust examined vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis (VITT). Their paper, published in the 'New England Journal of Medicine', looked at symptoms, signs and outcomes of the first 220 UK cases of VITT and found that the overall mortality rate of those presenting to hospitals with definite or probable VITT was just over 22 per cent. The chances of death increased significantly the lower the platelet count and the greater the activation of the blood clotting system, increasing to 73 per cent in patients with a very low platelet count and intracranial haemorrhage following blood clots in the brain (cerebral venous sinus thrombosis - CVST).