CLOTS:THE REALITY

RISK OF DAMAGE TO BRAIN UP TO TEN TIMES HIGHER FROM COVID THAN VACCINATION

CATCHING coronavirus carries up to ten times the risk of having a blood clot to the brain than being vaccinated, an Oxford university study shows.

Scientists investigating the likelihood of getting cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) said the risk is eight to ten times higher for Covid-19 patients than for anyone having either Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca jabs.

Researchers found CVT is more common after Covid-19 than in any of the comparison groups, with 30 per cent of these cases occurring in the under-30s.

The findings fly in the face of European warnings that AstraZeneca doses should not be given to younger people because of the risk of rare blood clots.

Based on data from more than 500,000 Covid-19 patients, experts said the occurrence of CVT was 39 in a million people. Among those who had a Pfizer or Moderna jab, it was around four in a million, while for the AstraZeneca vaccine, the occurrence was about five in a million after the first dose.

Numerous countries have paused the use of AstraZeneca due to clot fears and Denmark this week became the first to fully ban it. Sir John Bell (pictured), regius professor of medicine at the University of Oxford, warned: ‘ They will have a lot of dead people, many more people than if they had used the AstraZeneca vaccine. They have to make their own decisions and live with those decisions and that may be more difficult as reality sinks in.’ Britain’s death toll rose by 30 to 127,261 yesterday while 2,672 tested positive – down from 53 deaths and 3,030 infections a week earlier. Some 117,835 first vaccine doses were given and 343,783 second doses – so 32,444,439 have had their first jab and 8,513,864 a second.