AstraZeneca acknowledges Covishield vaccine has uncommon side effect. Should it concern you?

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 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. “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,” said infectious disease expert Dr. Ishwar Gilada. “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,” said Dr. Rajeev Jayadevan, co-chairman of the Indian Medical Association’s National Covid-19 Task Force. 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, with about 51 cases 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 the Covid vaccine received the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is made from a harmless cold virus. Dr. Ishwar explains the mechanism of potential TTS risk and reassures that the risk is very low, stating, “No, we need not because it has happened to a very few people”.

Dr. Rajeev highlights the overall lower risk of death from Covid for vaccinated people, along with reduced risk of complications, despite extremely rare serious side effects for vaccines. He emphasizes the benefits of vaccination in preventing a significant number of Covid-related deaths.