A new modelling study which examined blood clot risk from the AstraZeneca vaccine has found that the dangers to young people in relation to blood clots are greater than the benefits the vaccine might confer.
If the entire population took the AstraZeneca jab, it concluded, while ten deaths in young people (aged 18-39) might be prevented by the vaccine, twice as many young people might die from blood clotting caused by the jab.
The study, published in the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s (ECDC) medical journal, modelled four months of the vaccine distribution strategy in France. It found that using the vaccine on the entire adult population in the country would avert 10 deaths from Covid among 18-39-year-olds, but would be associated with 21 deaths from blood clotting in the same age grouping over the same time period.
The researchers noted that blood clots – Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia (TTS) – had “been identified as a rare adverse event following COVID-19 vaccination with Vaxzevria” (commonly known as AstraZeneca.
They said that benefits of the vaccine distribution in people 55 years and older exceeded the risk of death from COVID-19, but the same could not be said for young adults.
“When Vaxzevria was used in younger age groups, the benefit–risk balance was no longer as favourable and even reversed in the younger age groups,” the researchers said.
Young adults, especially those without an underlying condition are considered to be a low risk for Covid-19.
Last April, the National Immunisation Advisory Committee recommended that AstraZeneca should only be given to people over the age of 60 in Ireland due to the risk of very rare blood clots.
However, in light the Delta variant of Covid-19, the HSE is considering making the vaccine available to young adults.