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On Friday, news came that a younger Inland healthcare worker who had received the AstraZeneca vaccine was dead. Yesterday it emerged that three more health workers who had received the vaccine were admitted to the Oslo University Hospital (OUS) with a blood clot.
The Norwegian Medicines Agency is investigating whether the case is related to coronary vaccination.
– We have no result. Among other things, many examinations are carried out in Rikshospitalet, from which we are awaiting a response, says the medical director of the Norwegian Medicines Agency, Steinar Madsen.
He adds that they have received no further reports of blood clots over the weekend.
NRK
Explain
Can a blood clot form with the AstraZeneca vaccine?
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You do not know that. So far it has not been discovered if there is a connection, or if people who have had a blood clot would get it anyway.
Norway and many other countries have temporarily suspended vaccination while investigating reports of side effects. It may take 1 to 2 weeks before we receive a response.
Common side effects of this AstraZeneca vaccine are headache, fever, chills, fatigue, and muscle and joint pain.
If you have spots on your skin or feel worse two to three days after vaccination, you should contact your doctor.
To date, 121,820 doses of AstraZeneca have been delivered to Norway. Among those vaccinated, three people have had a blood clot, but as I said, no connection to the vaccine has been shown.
Ask the vaccinated to report symptoms
Prioritize serious messages
The last few days have been hectic for the Norwegian Medicines Agency.
– We’ve never had it so busy. In the last two days, we have received more than 1000 messages from patients and healthcare professionals.
Madsen explains that these are mostly reports of mild side effects.
– And then there are our few that we have to look at more closely. Obviously, we prioritize serious messages, he says.
Messages from individuals are first sent to FHI before being entered into the Norwegian Medicines Agency database.
The director of the Norwegian Medicines Agency says they receive reports of side effects from all types of vaccines. Regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine, the messages are from people under 65 years of age.
– So most of them are younger and middle-aged, he says.
– unusual
The four cases here in Norway are people who have suffered from low platelet counts, bleeding, and blood clots.
– This is very unusual. Many doctors have never seen this before, Madsen says.
He says the condition of the three OUS patients is that they are still seriously ill.
Gravity is also the reason why they examine them as thoroughly as possible.
Madsen understands that people are concerned, but says there is little cause for concern.
– These four serious incidents occurred among more than 120,000 vaccinated, so we know this is rare.
Hallvard Sandberg on the connection between AstraZeneca and blood clots.
However, ask to be aware of severe symptoms after more than three days after vaccination. Then a doctor or emergency room should be contacted.
At the same time, Madsen’s message is clear:
– We do not expect this to lead to greater skepticism about vaccines, because vaccination is the only thing that can save us from the pandemic.
It will probably take a couple of weeks before they get a response.
The Norwegian Medicines Agency hopes that in a week or two they will come closer to answering the riddle of why this happened to the four people.
He says the AstraZeneca vaccine break will likely last two weeks as well.
– The pause lasts until we have answers to all these questions, until we get good results and can give good advice to the population about any further use of this vaccine.
Madsen says they can’t see as of yet that the case is tied to a special batch.
Countries like Denmark and Ireland have made the same assessment when stopping the launch of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The UK, which has carried out far more vaccinations than Norway, has not reported the same type of serious incident, for example.
– Are they as open and transparent about side effects as Norway and Denmark?
– They should be. Here are international obligations. There is also something we wonder about: Why do we have these cases in Norway? Why did we have it in Denmark? And why we had them in Austria. We don’t have a clear answer to that right now, Madsen says.
