FEARS that a Covid vaccine is causing blood clots has been dismissed by a senior figure at Dorset County Hospital - as he encouraged people to continue to book their jabs.
The rollout of the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine has been halted in several European countries due to reports of some people suffering blood clots after receiving their vaccination.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has sought to reassure the public the vaccine is safe, insisting there is no evidence the coronavirus jab has caused blood clots, while the European Medicines Agency also said there is no indication the jab is harmful.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Parliament that he will receive the Oxford/AstraZeneca shortly.
Professor Alastair Hutchison, chief medical officer at Dorset County Hospital, explained that the AstraZeneca vaccine is being administered at GPs as they do not have the facilities to store the Pfizer vaccine at minus 70s degrees, unlike hospitals.
But addressing the blood clot fears he said: “The AstraZeneca vaccine has suddenly had concerns about it being linked with blood clots but actually what the data shows is that the number of blood clots occurring in people who have been vaccinated is no different than the blood clots that would appear in the general population.
“In total, there have been less than 40 patients who have developed blood clots after they had the vaccine - but that is out of at least 15 million people who have been vaccinated (with the AstraZeneca vaccine).
“That sort of number of blood clots is what you expect by chance especially when you think they are more elderly people and more prone to develop blood clots.
“When you are vaccinating this many people, it is possible they will get ill, but the vaccine is not responsible for causing the blood clots. But of course, that is closely looked at and being investigated.”
He added: “There is no numerical evidence to support the idea blood clots are appearing due to the vaccine.
“They are just occurring after vaccination but were going to occur anyway and it is a coincidence they appeared after the vaccine was administered.
“If we had no vaccination campaign whatsoever, we would have seen that number of blood clots.
“There’s no increase as a result of the vaccines.”
Despite the reported concerns, Prof Hutchison still encouraged Dorset residents to continue to book their vaccine and receive the jab.
He said: “Definitely go and get it. I would have no concerns in getting the vaccination and you are more likely to get seriously ill from Covid without having the vaccine than a blood clot.
“There is no evidence that the blood clots are due to the vaccine. But people do understandably find it hard to accept.”
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