Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris
30 cases out of 18 million really ought to be re-stated every time this is discussed, because some of the commentary around this is starting to make it sound like taking the AZ vaccine is Russian roulette.
If there is a direct causal link then the odds of getting a blood clot from the vaccine are still ridiculously low. If there is a direct causal link, then some of the reported cases will still not have been caused by the vaccine because these things occur naturally in the population at a low rate anyway.
The danger here is that we talk ourselves into losing confidence in the vaccine for no other reason that talking about the latest covid-related gossip is now the national pastime.
If I were a betting man, I’d bet that the single-dose J&J vaccine is offered to younger people, and that the official advice underpinning that is that this is a harder-to-reach age group and a single vaccine is therefore advantageous. That will allow AZ to be restricted from the age group where it *might* pose an identifiable risk, without there being any loud public statements that undermine overall confidence in the AZ vaccine.
Meanwhile, as research continues, if there is a link, then it ought to be possible to identify why one vaccine causes clots and another doesn’t. Vaccines can and do get reformulated when necessary.
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Pretty much this - if there is a small risk of increased clotting events in certain populations and there are enough vaccines of different types to go around, then recommending AZ for those at a lower risk and Pfizer, Janssen, Moderna and Novavax for everyone else seems sensible.
That said, if you're in an 'at risk' group for clotting events and already have had your first shot of AZ, not sure what's going to happen there - mix and match or take the risk of a second shot of AZ?