Blood-clotting after vaccination is very, very rare in India

There has been this perception that coronavirus vaccine is resulting in blood-clotting in some individuals. The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has issued an advisory to healthcare workers and vaccine beneficiaries to encourage people to be aware of suspected thromboembolic (blood clotting) symptoms occurring within 20 days after receiving any COVID-19 vaccine, particularly Covishield. 

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The advisory has been framed without regard for the fact that the incidence of blood clotting is 0.61 per million doses in India. Prof. Shamika Ravi has said that this is significantly lower than elsewhere. It was 4 per million in the UK, she added. “This type of messaging will only worsen vaccine hesitancy,” she warned. 

Correcting itself, the government then said that the reporting rate of blood-clotting events in India is around 0.61 per million doses, which is much lower when compared to 4 cases per million in UK and 10 cases per million doses in Germany. “There were no potential thromboembolic events reported following administration of #Covaxin vaccine,” the government said. 

The official statement added that the Covishield vaccine continues to have a definite positive benefit risk profile with tremendous potential to prevent infections and reduce deaths due to COVID-19 across the world and in India.