THE heart attacks, strokes and blood clotting cases that are still occurring have no connection to the AstraZeneca vaccine, said former health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He said this was because there has been no recent vaccination programmes using the AstraZeneca vaccine and it was also not used for booster doses.
Rather, he said the current occurrences of these issues are due to other risk factors such as smoking, cholesterol problems and diabetes.
Dr Noor Hisham was responding to news reports of the ongoing court case in the United Kingdom (UK) where the pharmaceutical giant has admitted for the first time in court documents that its COVID-19 vaccine can cause a rare blood clotting side effects, resulting in death and serious injury in dozens of cases.
“The side effects said to be associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine include blood clotting or Vaccine Induced Immune Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia (VITT),” he said in a posting on X on Tuesday (May 28).
“It is a condition where blood clots together with a decrease in platelet count. This only occurs within a timeframe of four days to four weeks after vaccination.
“The public is advised not to worry because the last AstraZeneca vaccination was given years ago. The court case being publicised is related to an incident that occurred in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic and is not based on recent events.”
Dr Noor Hisham further urged the public to know the difference between the side effects involving VITT and other blood clotting problems.
“The diagnostic criteria for VITT must include it occurring within four weeks after vaccination and a low platelet count,” he stated.
“Diagnosis cannot be made visually without examination and confirmation by medical officers. We need to be cautious with fact analysis and misinterpretations that could cause confusion among the public.”
According to Dr Noor Hisham, when the Health Ministry was deciding on the types of vaccine, they had received reports that VITT could occur within four days to four weeks post-vaccination.
“However, the vaccine was still necessary for the vaccination programme due to the high death rate from COVID-19 among the unvaccinated population, and vaccine supplies were insufficient back then,” he recalled.
“High-risk individuals include those with a history of blood clots. These individuals were therefore not allowed to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The Health Ministry had also issued guidelines to screen high-risk individuals from receiving this type of vaccine and for early detection of these side effects including AEFI (adverse events following immunisation).”
Dr Noor Hisham further stressed that aside from these precautions, cases of VITT were very low, standing at four cases per one million injections.
“If compared to the risk of blood clots and low platelet count after a COVID-19 infection, the vaccine was far safer,” he remarked.
“After a COVID-19 infection, the risk of thrombotic thrombocytopenia (TT) is as high as 165,000 cases per one million infections. Meanwhile, the incidence of blood clots among smokers is higher, with nearly 1,800 cases per one million smokers.
“There are no more VITT cases being detected and reported now.” – May 28, 2024
Main pic credit: Utusan Malaysia
