Incidents of bleeding and clotting after taking a COVID-19 vaccine, especially Covishield, are "minuscule," said a government report. The report by the Adverse Effect Following Immunisation (AEFI) Committee, sent to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on May 17, mentioned that the number of cases of blood clotting following vaccination in the country is within the expected range.
The committee conducted an urgent analysis of all post-vaccination clotting cases due to global concerns regarding the adverse effects of the COVID-19 vaccines. The World Health Organization’s Global Advisory Committee on Vaccination Safety (GACVS) had released a statement in April regarding these blood clotting incidents.
The GACVS panel had said Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS), a rare type of blood clotting event typically associated with low platelet count, was being observed in a few individuals who were administered Covishield and Vaxzeria shots, both brand names under which the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is being sold.
As per the AEFI Committee report, there were more than 23,000 adverse effect incidents reported through the CoWIN portal. Out of these, 23,000 incidents, only about 700 were reported to be in the severe or serious category. These numbers were as of April 4, when 75,435,381 vaccine doses had been administered (Covishield: 68,650,819 and Covaxin: 6,784,562).
The AEFI committee then conducted an in-depth review of 498 of these 700 severe cases. From these 498 cases, it was found that only 26 cases had reported being potentially thromboembolic. In thromboembolic cases, the blood clot can be carried by the bloodstream after breaking free to plug another vessel, potentially causing a stroke.
As per the review, there were no potential thromboembolic events reported following administration of the Covaxin vaccine.
The reported rate of blood clotting cases in India is minuscule compared to the reported rates of cases of the UK’s four/million doses and Germany’s 10/million doses.
"It is important to know that thromboembolic events keep occurring in the general population, and background and scientific literature suggests that this risk is almost 70 percent less in persons of South and South East Asian descent in comparison to those from European descent," the report stated.
The government is going to issue advisories to encourage people to be aware of suspected thromboembolic symptoms occurring within 20 days of receiving any COVID-19 vaccine (particularly Covishield) and report them to the health facility where the vaccine was administered.
According to the GACVS statement in April regarding the mechanism of clotting events, "The biological mechanism for this syndrome of TTS is still being investigated. At this stage, a ‘platform specific’ mechanism related to the adenovirus-vectored vaccines is not certain but cannot be excluded. Ongoing review of TTS cases and related research should include all vaccines using adenoviral vector platforms."
(Edited by : Shoma)
First Published: May 17, 2021 5:31 PM IST
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