AstraZeneca acknowledges Covishield vaccine has rare side-effect. Need to be concerned?

TTS – a blood clot disorder — is a rare side effect of AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine. This comes after reports said that AstraZeneca has for the first time accepted in court documents that its vaccine, developed in partnership with Oxford University, can raise the risk of a rare and serious blood clot. The Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, sold as Covishield in India and Vaxzevria in Europe, is a viral vector vaccine developed using the modified chimpanzee adenovirus ChAdOx1. Covishield, manufactured and marketed in India in partnership with Serum Institute of India (SII), was widely administered in the country — to almost 90 per cent of the Indian population.

Infectious disease expert Dr. Ishwar Gilada informed IANS that “Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Syndrome (TTS) is one of the rare but very serious adverse effects that has happened as part of Vaccine-induced Immune Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (VITTP). The incidence has been as low as one in 50,000 (0.002 per cent), but in a huge population, the number becomes sizeable.” Dr. Rajeev Jayadevan, co-chairman of the Indian Medical Association’s National Covid-19 Task Force, explained that “TTS is a very rare condition resulting from an abnormal immune response. Although it has several causes, it has also been linked with adenovirus vector vaccines and the WHO published a report on May 27, 2021 about it.”

The British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical company has admitted for the first time in the UK court documents that its Covid vaccine can cause a rare blood clot risk. About 51 cases have been lodged in the UK High Court against the pharmaceutical giant over claims that its Covid vaccine caused death and serious injury. In India, almost 90 per cent of people who received Covid vaccine, received the AstraZeneca vaccine which in India is called Covishield. Dr. Ishwar explained that the vaccine is made from a harmless cold virus, which is from chimpanzees, and it is called adenovirus.

The mechanism of the potential TTS risk was further explained by the doctor, where it was theorized that such antibodies react and clump together with PF4, forming the blood clots that have become linked with the vaccine. Such clots in the brain and heart can cause disastrous adverse effects. The likelihood of TTS occurring among Covishield vaccine takers is low, as emphasized by Dr. Ishwar. Dr. Rajeev added that people who are vaccinated have an overall lower risk of death from Covid as well as complications such as post-Covid heart attacks and strokes.

It was highlighted by Dr. Rajeev that “Although there are extremely rare serious side effects for vaccines, the benefits far outweigh the risks. Covid vaccines have prevented hundreds of thousands of people from dying.” *(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed. )*