Patients presented at hospital EDs over AstraZeneca vaccine fears

The AstraZeneca vaccine is safe for use and its benefits in protecting recipients from Covid-19 outweigh the risks of side effects, the European Medicines Agency said. Picture: Pexels

Concerns that the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine could be linked with blood clotting incidents led to some patients presenting at hospital emergency departments this week, a leading medical specialist has said.

Professor Mike Watts, a specialist in venous thromboembolism (VTE) or blood clots at University Hospital Limerick, was speaking in advance of the announcement by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) today that the vaccine is safe to use.

The EMA clarification follows some concern about blood clots in a small number of individuals who had received the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in Norway, which then led to the temporary suspension of the vaccine’s use in more than a dozen European countries, including Ireland.

The medic said that since the concerns emerged, some patients were presenting at the emergency department “petrified” and “scared” that they had a blood clot or stroke after vaccination.

The fear that is generated by this is significant and palpable and is having consequences and needs to be dealt with quickly and put to bed. 

"We need to get on with vaccinating our population because that’s the only thing that’s going to get us out of this,” Dr Watts said.

The International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis and the World Health Organization said the benefits of taking the vaccine outweighed any risks and no causal link had been established to date, he said.

The consultant said there were greater risks in not giving the vaccine: “We have lost four days of vaccinations. Is that justified? I don’t think so. They [EMA] should have got their act together and solved this on Monday morning."

Dr Watt, who also co-chairs VTE Ireland, said the risk of getting a blood clot was three times higher in patients with a serious Covid-19 infection and that the risk remains for three months.

He also advised people taking anticoagulation or blood-thinning medication to continue doing so and stressed they were likely to be at lower risk of clotting from any Covid-19 vaccine.