It’s the Government’s job to promote a rational view of risk, not false fears over Astrazeneca jabs
SIR – In Britain, 79 people out of the 20 million given the Astrazeneca vaccine developed thrombosis (in some cases, cerebral venous sinus thrombosis) – a rate of four in a million.
By comparison, thrombosis can develop while taking the contraceptive pill at a rate of one to five women in 10,000 per year. Women who are pregnant or who have just given birth develop thromboses at a rate of one to two per 1,000.
Out of a population of more than 21 million men and women between the ages of 20 and 44, fewer than 1,000 died from Covid in the year to January 3 2021, according to the Office for National Statistics. This is a mortality rate of one in 20,000.
Every medication carries a risk and rational people accept this. The job of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies is to advise politicians of the facts in simple terms. The job of politicians is to advise the population about the way forward. Neither has the remit to raise false fears, especially when the incidence of thromboses is so small that no conclusions on cause can be properly drawn by anyone. Gerald Orbell
Ropley, Hampshire
SIR – I have in front of me the information leaflet from a packet of standard aspirin tablets. Among the many possible side effects listed is the slightly frightening “bleeding on the brain which may cause a severe headache or stroke”.
The tablets are sold in supermarkets, not even under the pharmacist’s supervision. They are taken routinely by vast numbers of people, often for symptoms that would disappear after a couple of hours’ lie-down in a darkened room. There is no great clamour to have them banned or campaign to discourage their use. Brian Gedalla
Chartered statistician
London N3
SIR – The impression that the Astrazeneca vaccine is the only one associated with clotting problems is misleading. America recorded cases of apparent secondary immune thrombocytopenia (a deficiency in clotting) after the use of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, reported in the American Journal of Haematology. Christine Callingham
Stevenage, Hertfordshire
SIR – If, in order to get an alternative vaccine, under-30s are asked to drive further than they would have gone to receive the Astrazeneca jab, they will be more likely to die in a car crash on the way than have a clotting reaction. Ian Fraser
Clyffe Pypard, Wiltshire
SIR – The incidence of blood clots in recipients of the Astrazeneca vaccine is minuscule compared with the numbers administered. Nevertheless experts and authorities are right to explain in detail the risks and rewards.
It is a pity the same logic was not applied to lockdowns. People have died in these periods from cancer, heart conditions and because of delays to medical procedures. Economic consequences of lockdowns will also affect life expectancy. These concerns should have been addressed with efforts equal to those made to analyse possible side effects of vaccination. Christopher Hunt
Swanley, Kent
SIR – I was moved to hear the story of Grace Spence Green (Life changing, Radio 4, April 7). Walking through a shopping centre, she by chance broke the fall of a suicide jumper, saving his life but sustaining severe injury (paraplegia) herself. While displaying amazing forgiveness, she said that, as it had happened to her, it was pointless for experts to explain to her that what had happened was incredibly rare.
I wonder if we should look at rare, serious side effects of vaccines in a similar way: as the unintended sacrifice of the lives or health of an unfortunate few, in the process of making us all safer.
Dr David Shoesmith
York