MHRA may change advice for young people receiving AZ vaccine

[IloveSooty424]

I just saw this news story on Channel 4 news tonight.

www.channel4.com/news/uk-medicines-regulator-considers-issuing-new-advice-over-oxford-astrazeneca-jab

It seems the MHRA may follow other European countries and Canada and advise that younger people should not receive the AZ vaccine. It seems the decision will be made imminently in the coming days.

I’m due to book my vaccine this week and don’t know whether to wait and see how this plays out. I’m 42. I’m also concerned that if younger people will only be offered the Pfizer vaccine it will slow down the vaccine programme substantially.

Any thoughts?

X post

Further data to be considered as it come in. Monitoring will, as with all vaccines, continue.

This shows our monitoring works and allows scientific assessments to be made.

Most of the cases reported have occurred in women under 60 years of age within 2 weeks of vaccination. Based on the currently available evidence, specific risk factors have not been confirmed.

BBC staying with Amsterdam whilst waiting for JVT...

Hope MHRA says something similar

@EasterIssland

Hope MHRA says something similar

Surely this is a co-ordinated response

Reiterating that data comes from across all areas, including UK.

No specific risk factors identified. Because if the difference in age groups that have been vaccinated they cannot confirm that 'women under 60' are at any greater risk.

Lists symptoms...

From the Guardian:

More from the EMA’s safety committee which has concluded that while the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine should continue to be used to all age groups that unusual blood clots, with low blood platelets should be listed as a very rare side effect.

Those administered vaccine should be made aware of the possibility of very rare cases of blood clots combined with low levels of blood platelets occurring within two weeks of vaccination.

Most of the cases reported have occurred in women under 60 years of age within two weeks of vaccination. Based on the currently available evidence, specific risk factors have not been confirmed.

The blood clots occurred in veins in the brain (cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, CVST) and the abdomen (splanchnic vein thrombosis) and in arteries, together with low levels of blood platelets and sometimes bleeding.

The committee carried out an in-depth review of 62 cases of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis and 24 cases of splanchnic vein thrombosis reported in the EU drug safety database (EudraVigilance) as of 22 March 2021, 18 of which were fatal. The cases came mainly from spontaneous reporting systems of the EEA and the UK, where around 25 million people had received the vaccine.

The EMA said the reported combination of blood clots and low blood platelets was very rare, and the overall benefits of the vaccine in preventing Covid-19 outweigh the risks of side effects.

One plausible explanation for the combination of blood clots and low blood platelets is an immune response, leading to a condition similar to one seen sometimes in patients treated with heparin (heparin induced thrombocytopenia, HIT), they say.

Thanks. I'm on my phone now, couldn't cross reference with that!

Just came through on my phone - UK is going to offer alternatives to AZ to under 30s.

Just announced, under 30s will be offered alternatives to AZ.

First question from a young woman shows just how scared she is/her age group are. She hasn't been able to internalise the data, very rare, way it has been used, is seen across all ages, both sexes.

There's a HUGE problem with confidence in AZ and, if she is right, all vaccines I'm her age group.

Which leads you back to the wild utterances made before any of this came out, that started AZ hesitancy over and above any vaccine hesitancy.

I'm so annoyed about this. At 38 I feel like I'm being thrown under a bus. Those of us in our 40s and 30s are having to wait longer with the recent delays and now this.

MHRA stars now

@nordica

I'm so annoyed about this. At 38 I feel like I'm being thrown under a bus. Those of us in our 40s and 30s are having to wait longer with the recent delays and now this.

I am the same age as you and feel exactly the same.

JVT and MHRA

Nice timing. Waited for the EMA initial statement to finish...

Preamble

I'm on BBC news if anyone is wondering.

his words seem like there might be a Uturn

From BBC

The regulator (MHRA) said the side-effects were extremely rare and the vaccine's effectiveness was proven.

It said it meant the benefits of taking the vaccine were still very favourable for the vast majority.

But they conceded it was more finely balanced for younger people because the risk from Covid was so much lower.

The review prompted the government's vaccine advisory group, the JCVI, to recommend that people aged 18 to 29 be offered an alternative vaccine where available.

People who have had their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine should still get their second dose. Only those who suffered one of these rare blood clots after the first dose should not get vaccinated, the MHRA said.

At 37 this doesn't fill me with confidence to have the AZ vaccine. I wish they had followed other countries and gone under 50s or 60s. I have had Covid and was fine! I don't want a vaccine that could potentially make me more ill than the illness.

So a young person who has had their first dose like my daughter should still get their 2nd dose of AZ, who is to say the 2nd dose won't cause an issue.

This is an extremely shit outcome for women in their 30’s and 40’s. I do not feel confident enough to have the vaccine based on this latest briefing. I’m 38.

@littlepeas

This is an extremely shit outcome for women in their 30’s and 40’s. I do not feel confident enough to have the vaccine based on this latest briefing. I’m 38.

I'm with you. Just hoping it will be another month before getting it is even an option, and things may have changed. I don't understand why there isn't an option to have a different vaccine.

@littlepeas

This is an extremely shit outcome for women in their 30’s and 40’s. I do not feel confident enough to have the vaccine based on this latest briefing. I’m 38.

I'm 36 and I'm happy with the outcome tbh , I guess each person is different. Guess the fact I've had 1 dose is also helpful. They've seen it in women and men from all ages

MHRA - preamble, scene setting, reassurance about monitoring, there's a lot of people involved ... Strong possibility but more work needed to confirm causality.

Vaccine outweighs risks. RR remains extremely small, 79 cases all after first dose, all ages, 4 / million people, more women than men. 19 died. Clear advice in older people, more nuanced in younger people; lots of guidance going out to health workers and public.

Commission mom Human Medicine - they keep saying gender, I keep flinching...preamble

It also means that the roll out is less likely to be significantly delayed, which is good news for those in their 30s and 40s