Misleading Claims on Well-Known Rare Risk of AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine

SciCheck Digest A rare risk of dangerous blood clots associated with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine was identified and reported in early 2021. This month, the company announced it was pulling the vaccine off the market globally, citing a decline in demand. Social media posts misleadingly linked the decision to the company having “admitted” the rare side effect “for the first time” in court documents and used it to impugn all vaccines. Full Story The association between the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and a rare and dangerous blood clotting condition combined with low blood platelets has been known for more than three years.& The condition is known as thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or TTS, in general, and vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia, or VITT, when it implies an association to vaccines. The European Medicines Agency, which regulates vaccines in the European Union,& first warned& of the possible link between the vaccine and “very rare cases of blood clots associated with thrombocytopenia, i.e. low levels of blood platelets” on March 18, 2021. In a& statement& issued that same day, the pharmaceutical company acknowledged the finding and said it “recognises and will implement” EMA’s recommendations, including updating the product information to warn about the reported cases....