By Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba, UK.
It’s so tricky to see the wood through the trees these days. So much “information” is going around on social media (true or false). The 18-30 demographic are the most avid users of social media by far and the most vaccine skeptical. Now, there is a meme going around warning people off AstraZeneca in Uganda because it has been banned in Norway while the later is donating the same vaccine to Uganda. Oh Norway!
Having had both AstraZeneca jabs with zero reaction myself, just like the huge majority of people I know here in the UK, I would say it’s more likely that the clotting effect of the vaccine is being exaggerated. That’s the thing with statistics; they give you what is called a p value. There is a very low chance of clotting, which may occur in around 4-6 people in every million after being vaccinated. Latest figures show that only 399 of the 25m people, who have received the AstraZeneca vaccine in the UK, have had clotting — causing 71 deaths.
There’s intentional ‘‘dirty’’ marketing going on against AstraZeneca and I find it so unfair. Pfizer and Johnson have the same rare clotting effect as AstraZeneca but the media isn’t making a meal out of it. There was a study of more than a million people in Spain, and found that incidents of rare blood clots happened at a “similar” rate with both Pfizer and AstraZeneca.
Anyway, a lot of studies show that one is likely to get blood clots from Covid-19 than the jab. Covid-19 could also lead to strokes, or thrombocytopenia (a lowering of the platelet count). So, why are people waging a war on something that is helping to fight the virus? It doesn’t make sense to me.
Blood clots could be got from a lot of other things, too, other than the vaccines, but the anti-vaccine group rarely points this out, because they want vaccines to look bad. 1 in 2000 women each year will develop a blood clot from taking the combined oral contraceptive pill. 1 in 1000 people a year will develop a blood clot from air travel. Basically, the risk of clots and lower platelets is much higher with covid-19 than vaccines. Any long term side effects from vaccines are vanishingly small and the vast majority are in the short term of days to weeks.
All drugs are continued to be monitored following approval as its standard practice and known as phase 4 trials (also referred to as post marketing surveillance). This happens following the approval of a drug for public use to monitor the performance in real life scenarios.
AstraZeneca works by stimulating the body’s natural defenses (immune system). It causes the body to produce its own protection (antibodies) against the virus. This will help to protect you against COVID-19 in the future. None of the ingredients in this vaccine can cause COVID-19.
The vaccine rollout in the UK has been one of the best in the world. Almost 90% of the adult population has received one dose and ~65% fully vaccinated. Only 35% of 18-30 year olds are unvaccinated. Often side effects are a sign that the vaccine is doing its job.
Unfortunately, Covid-19 is claiming many unvaccinated and deniers now. 90% of hospitalizations here in the UK, are in unvaccinated and a small % of these a single jab. They seem to be happy to play Russian roulette with their health and have no responsibility about being 100% transmissible to others. The jabs have reduced deaths, hospitalities and also meant our lives are slowly going back to normal!
