IN the last year in the UK, 4.4m people have been infected with Sars-CoV-2 and there have been at least 127,000 deaths as a result. Imagine these 4.4m people had been fully immunised with the Oxford-AstraZeneca (OAZ) vaccine at the outset. At least 100,000 Covid deaths could have been prevented, and there would have been around 22 cases of a rare combination of blood clot and low platelets, with five deaths.
Compared to risk of a clot after vaccination, you are six times more likely to be struck by lightning in your lifetime, 11 times more likely to die in a car accident each year and 100 times more likely to get a blood clot if you use an oral contraceptive. If you are hospitalised with Covid, your risk of a clot is one in four.
Three of the 19 who died from thrombosis following 20.2m doses of the OAZ vaccination were under 30, and those aged 29 and under will now be offered a different vaccine (though other vaccines may have similar tiny risks). In future, vaccine supply may be sufficient for people to choose which vaccine they have, but not yet.
Will this put people off having a vaccine? With infection rates currently very low (thanks to vaccines), some may decide to wait for more safety data to emerge or hope the shield of herd immunity will protect them without a vaccine. This strategy is much riskier than having the vaccine, particularly in the long term.
Many of those who volunteered for vaccine trials when the risks were unknown were under 30. Some volunteered to be deliberately infected with Sars-CoV-2 to help improve our understanding. Many are likely to have a vaccine not just for personal protection, but to protect friends and family, open up society, boost the economy, allow travel and encourage further medical advances from the new vaccine technology. Some people get unpleasant temporary side effects from the vaccines. But the overall chance of dying, as with just about every modern vaccine, is around one in a million. Paracetamol is much more of a risk.
