Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine: two views on blood clot concerns
With the UK government’s joint committee on vaccines and immunisation recommending that healthy adults under 30 should be offered an alternative vaccine to Oxford/AstraZeneca’s if available and they are not at high risk of Covid, it’s not surprising if some people shy away from it.
In the UK, up to 31 March there were 79 reports of these rare blood clots with low platelets after about 20m AstraZeneca doses had been administered. Nineteen people died – three of them under 30 – although it is not known whether the blood clots were the cause in all the cases.
Some under-30s have already had a coronavirus vaccine, whether because they work in health and social care, or they have an underlying health condition. Here, two young women who have already received the AstraZeneca version talk about their response to the news.
‘There are just so few cases of blood clots’
Jasmine Morgan, 26, local government worker and vaccination centre volunteer, Essex
“I had the AstraZeneca vaccine in early February, and today’s news hasn’t changed my view of the jab. There are just so few cases of blood clots. I don’t think it would be reasonable to prevent so many millions from getting a vital vaccine when there’s no evidence that it is the cause, and the percentage of people affected by blood clots is so few compared to the numbers vaccinated.
“I think it’s too early to stop the
rollout until more research is done on whether the vaccine is causally linked to the clots. Personally, I feel happy to have my second dose which is due on 26 April.
“I am concerned that the news will affect confidence in the vaccine. You can see straight away that people are saying it goes to show they should never have taken it.
“When the vaccine was first rolled out a lot of people I know were hesitant, but because it was going so well they put their worries to one side. The news today will change things and put doubts in people’s heads.”
‘Every headache I get I think is this the blood clot?’
Yasmine Cotton, 19, health care assistant and student
“I felt pure regret when I saw the news, and wished I’d either waited until there was more known about the vaccine or gone for the Pfizer vaccine instead.
“I’m bank staff for a care home while I’m at university, and then when I’m home I work there as a healthcare assistant. My manager contacted me and said I needed to have it, and to be honest, I felt quite pressured to get it. I don’t want to be putting residents at risk, and I also thought if people at work asked if I’d had it and I said no it’d be frowned upon.
“Now, I just feel extremely worried. Every headache I get I think is this the blood clot? It’s terrifying. I had Covid in October, and I was fine. I’d go through that again and again if it meant I wasn’t worrying about what this vaccine would do to me.
“I can’t take it out of me, but I can guarantee I won’t be getting my second dose.”
This article was amended on 8 April 2021. It was the government’s joint committee on vaccines and immunisation that recommended that healthy adults under 30 should be offered an alternative vaccine to Oxford/AstraZeneca’s if available, not the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority as an earlier version said.