BLOOD clots linked to Covid vaccines “can be treated” doctors say.

The rare condition can occur after the AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson jabs in a miniscule number of people.

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Although there have been deaths, and reports of people becoming paralysed and being put into comas, there are early signs the condition is treatable.

It comes despite US health officials warning typical drugs for blood clots may be “dangerous” and should not be used. 

Doctors in Colorado, US, revealed they treated a woman in her 40s within six days.

It is the first time the details of a case has been reported in medical literature considering the syndrome has only recently emerged.

Some experts are calling the very rare and unusual blood clots after jabs vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT).

A healthy woman went to the emergency department at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital feeling unwell twelve days after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

She had a headache, dizziness, and vision changes – three of the key symptoms of VITT.

Her symptoms had started with a headache, sinus pressure, muscle pain and a sore throat on day five after her jab.

And on day eight, she had tried going to an urgent care centre where she was given antibiotics, steroid drugs and muscle relaxants.

But as her condition worsened, she went to the emergency department, where doctors diagnosed her with VITT.

Docs were aware they should not use the drug heparin, a blood thinner taken by people at risk of blood clots.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance says typically heparin is used to treat blood clots.

But in vaccine-induced blood clots, heparin “may be dangerous, and alternative treatments need to be given”. 

It may be because scientists have previously said heparin, in rare cases, can trigger the immune system to create antibodies that fire up the blood-clotting platelets.

Although used to prevent blood clots, the drug can induce it in some patients.

Therefore, the Colorado woman was given a different blood thinner called bivalirudin and was discharged six days later.

Her blood platelets increased after dropping to a low level – a key marker of VITT.

She had no “immediate negative outcomes”, Dr Todd Cark and colleagues wrote in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

Know the signs

The UK's medicine regulator, the MHRA, says you should seek medical advice if you have had any of these symptoms four days or more after vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine:

• a new onset of severe or persistent headache
• blurred vision
• confusion
• seizures
• shortness of breath
• chest pain
• leg swelling
• persistent abdominal pain
• unusual skin bruising or pinpoint round spots beyond the injection site

These symptoms may have been related to the AstraZeneca vaccine if they were within 28 days of the shot.

There is no suggestion at the moment that the blood clots related to the Janssen vaccine have different symptoms.

But the CDC also warn of:

• "gut pain that does not go away".

Dr Clark said: “Our experience shows us that these clot reactions are very rare, but they can be treated.

“Americans can feel comfortable getting vaccinated and should discuss any vaccination concerns with their doctor. 

“Getting vaccinated is a critical step in combating this pandemic so we can return to our normal lives.”

The same day the woman went to hospital, April 12, the CDC paused the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Around 16 people out of the eight million people vaccinated with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the US have developed a blood clot as of April 24.

The CDC has since recommended use of the jab once more, saying “known and potential benefits outweigh its known and potential risks”.

Health regulators in the UK and Europe have come to the same conclusions about the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab. 

It has been linked to 209 cases of blood clots in the UK as of April 21, 41 of which led to death.

Most of the blood clots occur in the brain, called CVST. 

And in all cases, the clots occur with low blood platelets – described as an “unusual” combination.

Young people appear more affected, meaning those under 30 in the UK will not be offered the AstraZeneca jab.

But women, although they make up the majority of cases, are not thought to be more at risk.

It comes after a leading professor warned that people who refused a vaccine linked to blood clots could die of Covid.

Prof Paul Hunter from the University of East Anglia, said: “To decline a vaccine today because it is the Oxford-AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the hope of being able to get another vaccine sometime later carries a real risk of dying from Covid-19 before being able to get a preferred vaccine. 

“Those countries that delayed their own vaccination programmes at a time of high transmission rates by declining to use available Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines should know that their decision will have contributed to an increase in the number of avoidable deaths from Covid-19.”

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