Speculation of course, but an interesting theory.
www.berlingske.dk/nyheder/dansk-professor-forkert-vaccineteknik-kan-udloese-blodpropper
Is it really the way AstraZeneca vaccines have been administered that has triggered fatal blood clots in several people in Europe? Niels Høiby suspects so.
"It may explain the few cases where it has gone completely wrong," he says.
Use of AstraZeneca has now been suspended in several European countries following the deaths, including in Denmark after the death of a 60-year-old woman. But the professor of clinical microbiology at Rigshospitalet [National hospital] has now zoomed in on the jab itself rather than the vaccine.
Coronavaccines have to be injected deep into the muscle, intramuscularly it is called. This means that the skin must be stretched before the needle is inserted, as is also stated in the guidelines of the Danish Health Authority. To make sure that the needle does not enter or damage the blood vessels, the plunger should be pulled back slightly to check for blood. If this happens, you should insert the needle somewhere else.
However, Niels Høiby has found that this does not always happen. Instead, for example, people's skin has been squeezed between their index finger and thumb prior to vaccination, which in extremely rare cases can have fatal consequences.
"This can mean that some of the vaccine can go into the bloodstream instead, if the needle has damaged the blood vessels, and from there on to the heart and lungs. And in the worst case, it can cause such a violent inflammatory reaction that it can cause several small blood clots in the lungs, among other places, which is what we have seen," says Niels Høiby, who has also been contacted by several nurses and general practitioners with similar concerns about the vaccine technique.
Nanna Wulff was also puzzled when she had to be vaccinated with AstraZeneca a few weeks ago.
"I was completely shocked, to say the least. I thought no one would believe this," says Nanna Wulff, who is a dentist herself and therefore experienced in injecting her patients.
So she knew the vaccine had to be inserted deep into the muscle. Instead, the vaccinator squeezed her skin while Nanna Wullf protested. A doctor was therefore called in, who confirmed the dentist was right.
"The nurse just stood there shaking her head and saying, 'I didn't learn that. I've given so many vaccines and I've never done this'. Then I sit there and think 'shut up', because it was pretty scary for all three of us to find out that the person had obviously been taught wrong. And no one has ever corrected or helped," says Nanna Wulff, who has sent a so-called concern letter to the Patient Safety Agency.
Niels Høiby is not really surprised that an incorrect technique may have been used to administer coronavaccination.
"The technique is not good enough, but unfortunately it is a technique that is accepted by many because it is so rare that it really goes wrong," says the professor, who stresses that he is working with a thesis that cannot be proven immediately.
However, he has done some reading up on the issue and has come across an article in the scientific journal The Lancet in which a 65-year-old American woman had similar side effects to those in Denmark, but after being vaccinated with either Moderna or Pfizer - the study does not say which of the two it is.
He therefore does not really believe that the problem of incorrectly injected vaccines relates only to AstraZeneca.
"If it was only AstraZeneca, I would be more inclined to believe that it was only related to the particular vaccine, but when it has also happened with the others, then it is more likely to be related to the vaccination itself," says Niels Høiby, whose thesis has also been described in the Health Policy Journal:
"And we know that when there are so many people to be vaccinated all over the world, there are also people who are not so used to vaccinating who will do the job."
At the same time, he believes the problems have been particularly evident at AstraZeneca because it has been quickly given to younger healthcare workers, unlike the other vaccines - many countries including Denmark initially chose not to use the UK vaccine for over-65s. And the immune system simply reacts more weakly the older you get, so the side effects are weaker, while the strong reactions are seen mainly in younger people. And this is where a vaccine given incorrectly could potentially provoke the deadly blood clots.
"It's deeply tragic and it makes a huge impression that people die when they really need to be vaccinated to protect themselves. We can now see that this has happened in Denmark and Norway, but at the same time the risk is so extremely small compared to how many millions have already been vaccinated," says the professor.
B.T. has been in contact with the Danish Health Authority, which does not wish to comment on Niels Høiby's theory. It refers to the announcement that the use of AstraZeneca was put on hold in the wake of the 60-year-old Danish woman's death.
'The Danish Health Authority is now waiting for the pharmaceutical authorities in the EU to carry out a closer investigation into a possible link between the Covid 19 vaccine from AstraZeneca and the serious cases of blood clots that have been reported,' it said at the time.