Coronavirus outbreak: Indians receiving Covishield carry a “small risk” of coagulation or bleeding

The benefits of the vaccine far outweigh this “microrisk”, a panel of experts said on Monday that about 6 out of 10 million people who received Cobishield in India are at risk of developing bleeding or coagulation. Insisted.

The Commission also said that after administration of Covaxin, another vaccine currently used in the national Covid-19 vaccination campaign, events suspected of thromboembolism (thrombus formation and loosening in blood vessels, etc.) (Blocking blood vessels) was not observed.

The Federal Ministry of Health said the National AEFI (Post-Vaccination Adverse Events) Commission has observed 0.61 thromboembolic events per million doses.

However, he also stated that 26 suspected thromboembolic events were observed at the 68,650,819 Covishield doses administered by April 3, which is 0.38 per million doses.

Narendra Modi, senior adviser to the panel, told The Telegraph on Tuesday that she would reveal a discrepancy between the two numbers. “There are no errors or contradictions,” he said.

The Ministry of Health said AEFI data from across India showed a “very small but decisive risk” of thromboembolic events from Covishield vaccination.

Physicians and health officials reaffirmed that the benefits of the vaccine, protection from severe Covid-19, far outweigh the small risks observed. This is especially true. This is because patients who develop Covid-19 are at increased risk of death from coagulation complications caused by the disease itself.

0.61 per million thromboembolic events in India are much lower than 4 per million events reported by UK regulators and 10 per million events observed in Germany. Said the ministry.

Previous medical studies have found that the risk of thromboembolic events is almost 70% lower in people of South Asian and Southeast Asian descent compared to the European population.

The National AEFI Commission said it has completed a “detailed review” of 498 serious and serious events in vaccinated people. Twenty-six of them were suspected of having a thromboembolic event.

The panel recorded more than 23,000 adverse events out of 75 million vaccinations given in India by the digital platform tracking AEFI by April 3, of which about 700 (9.3 per million). ) Was classified as “severe or severe”.

The AEFI Panel has not identified the number of deaths in these 700 events.

However, vaccinated people from some cities say they do not know how to report AEFI.

For example, a 21-year-old man in Delhi who received a Covishield on May 14 developed high fever and temporary numbness in one hand and fingers on the night of May 15.

He recovered shortly after his family consulted a doctor over the phone. However, until Monday, the family was unable to report AEFI to health authorities.

“The AEFI reporting system is like a farce,” said the boy’s mother. Telegraph on Monday.

The mother posted a tweet on May 15 and tagged the Ministry of Health, the Indian Medical Research Council, and the Serum Institute, asking for a contact number or email address to report AEFI.

“Two days have passed, but I haven’t heard back yet,” she said on Monday.

Medical professionals say a powerful AEFI reporting system is essential for analysis. The Ministry of Health has instructed all vaccination centers to give recipients a phone number that they can call in the event of an AEFI after a mandatory 30-minute waiting period, but many recipients I am unaware of this reporting system.

The Ministry of Health said, “Separate healthcare professionals and vaccine beneficiaries, to be aware of suspected thromboembolism symptoms that occur within 20 days of Covid-19 vaccination and to encourage people to report to the vaccination center. I will give a recommendation to. “

Suspicious symptoms include chest pain. Pain in the limbs or pressing the limbs; swelling in the limbs; multiple pinhead-sized red spots or bruise in the area beyond the injection site; persistent abdominal pain with or without vomiting; no history of previous seizures Seizures; Severe or persistent headaches; Weakness or paralysis of limbs; Persistent vomiting; Blurred eyes or changes in mental status.