When I was in my early 20s I had an incredibly rare reaction to an antibiotic I was prescribed. It sent me into bone marrow failure. I nearly died, and I have lasting consequences 20 years later.
Based on the current data, that incredibly rare side effect was about 5 times more likely than CVST after the AZ vaccine.
I was very unlucky but it’s without doubt that the antibiotic in question has had a huge positive impact on the world and saved very many more lives than it cost in rare side effects.
Should the regulator have pulled it because some very few people reacted the way I did? Clearly not. Should my doctor have pressed the very rare risks on me when it was prescribed? Probably not. (She probably should have considered the antibiotic as a potential cause sooner than she did, though.)
If 20 million people had received the antibiotic in a three month period would the very rare side effect have made screeching headlines? Well, probably. But I’d be confident that it was still saving more lives and preventing more harm.
And that’s why, despite a history of drug-induced thrombocytopaenia, I’m happily lining up for my second dose of AZ next month.
I’m also driving 200 miles in my car today on a totally non-essential journey. My chance of death from either the AZ jab or that car trip are pretty similar. And I get nowhere near the benefit from the car trip as I do from reducing the risks that come with Covid, even in groups at low risk of death.