On Wednesday, the EU Medicines Agency EMA confirmed that it is a possible connection between AstraZeneca vaccine and rare blood clots.
Blood clots and a low platelet count should therefore be listed as a very rare side effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine, according to the EMA. which still recommends continued use.
In Sweden, vaccination with AstraZeneca’s corona vaccine was resumed for people over 65 at the end of March, but for younger people, a break is still recommended.
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– A third dose
Possible solutions are now being discussed for those who have so far received only one dose of this vaccine in the country.
During a press conference yesterday, state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell said that the authorities are awaiting studies on whether it is possible to switch vaccines between the first and second dose.
– The problem then may be that you do not get the protection you need, and that you may then need a third dose, Tegnell says to Swedens radio.
– Immediately I do not think that one should change vaccine between dose one or two. In the long run, however, it may well be possible to give a third follow-up dose of another vaccine. It may even be beneficial to do so, the state epidemiologist continues.
Among people working in the Swedish health care system, around 120,000 people have received the first dose of the coronary vaccine, according to Aftonbladet, who writes that many of them have received AstraZeneca’s vaccine, and are still waiting for dose two for the vaccine to have maximum effect.
EMA: Link between blood clots and AstraZeneca
New blood clot case
This week was a new blood clot case related to AstraZeneca in Sweden, after a Swedish woman in her 60s was diagnosed with a blood clot and a low number of platelets after receiving the vaccine.
The woman is hospitalized and is on the road to recovery, according to the Swedish Medicines Agency.
The case is the third related to this vaccine in Sweden and was reported on Wednesday.
– Will probably be offered dose two
130,000 in Norway
In Norway, four people have been reported to have lost their lives from blood clots after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine. Norway paused the vaccine on 11 March.
Around 130,000 have received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Norway.
Both the Norwegian Medicines Agency and the Norwegian Directorate of Health consider it a good solution that these is offered dose two of another vaccine – if AstraZeneca is scrapped.
– One must be aware that no major studies have been done on combining vaccines, but we believe there is little risk that this will lead to unexpected side effects or problems. These are now things that are being considered by FHI, before they make a decision about AstraZeneca, said medical director Steinar Madsen in the Norwegian Medicines Agency to Dagbladet last week.
Investigation case
This afternoon, it was announced that the EMA’s adverse reaction committee has opened an investigation case to deal with reports of blood clots in people who have received Janssen’s vaccine.
There are a total of four reported cases.
The vaccine has so far not been used in Norway. The first delivery to Norway is expected in week 16.
Vaccine expert Gunnveig Grødeland has previously told Dagbladet that she considers it a possibility that the suspected side effects of AstraZeneca’s vaccine are due to a technology that is common to AstraZeneca, Janssen and Sputnik, and that the presumed problems can therefore apply to all so-called «adenoviral vector vaccines».
However, she emphasized that nothing is certain, and that there is no certain knowledge about the mechanisms that cause the suspected side effects.
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