Suspend AstraZeneca use for people under 55, Canada's vaccine committee recommends: The updated guidelines come following reports of rare blood clots.

CBC ^ | 03/29/2021 | David Cochrane, John Paul Tasker

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Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) is recommending provinces pause the use of the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine on those under the age of 55 because of safety concerns — guidance most provinces said today that they would follow.

The change comes following reports out of Europe of very rare instances of blood clots in some immunized patients — notably among younger women.

But 300,000 of these shots have been administered in Canada already, with no reports of blood clots here, officials said. The blood clotting problem also has not been reported in people who have received mRNA vaccines like the Pfizer and Moderna products.

Speaking to reporters Monday, Dr. Shelley Deeks, the vice-chair of NACI, said that with "substantial uncertainty" around cases of vaccine-induced thrombocytopenia (VIPIT) in people with low platelets, the committee is recommending the suspension of shots in all people under 55 as a "precautionary measure."

Based on early research out of Europe, VIPIT seems to be rare, occurring in anywhere from 1 in every 125,000 to 1 in 1 million people.

The European Union's drug watchdog, the European Medicines Agency, has said it could not definitively rule out a link between the vaccine and rare types of blood clots associated with thrombocytopenia.

Specifically, it pointed to 18 cases of an extremely rare type of blood clot called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), a condition that is much more common in women than men. Most of the cases occurred within 14 days of receiving the AstraZeneca shot, and the majority were in women under the age of 55.

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Dr. Howard Njoo, Canada's deputy chief public health officer, said people who develop stroke-like medical symptoms after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine — shortness of breath, chest pain, leg swelling, abdominal pain, sudden onset of headaches or blurred vision — should immediately seek medical attention.

There is no risk for people who have not developed such symptoms 20 days post-vaccination.

[Candor7]

Canada must abandon it vaccine suppliers and seek a new way.

[bagster]

[Fred Nerks]

Then there are the long-term effects we know nothing about. Yet.

[aquila48]

Bookmark

[shanover]

It is scary to think of the long term effects of these drugs. I pray that it’s all about nothing.

[Republican Wildcat]

AstraZeneca vaccine actually does affect the nucleus of the cells it enters (which some have conflated with the other vaccines). While it doesn’t change the DNA, it adds its own DNA to the nucleus to send mRNA out into the cell. If the immune system were to not target and dispatch this cell and it reproduces through mitosis, that would cause me concern you have would have altered cells developing as a cluster. It is a very unlikely scenario, but probably not 100% impossible.

[Pollard]

rare blood clots

so rare 20 European countries stopped using the vaccine

[mewzilla]

People die from vaccinations.

It’s very rare, but it happens.

The question is what does our government consider an acceptable number of vaccine related deaths to incur for a disease with over a 98% survival rate?

This is why informed consent is crucial.

And with so many having lied to us about so much, I’d argue informed consent is impossible in this case.

[Katya]

In Europe they’ve said this has affected a few women who are on birth control and smoke.