Big data study refutes anti-vax thrombotic claims on COVID-19 vaccine

Buffalo, New York – a study Researchers led by the University of Buffalo have confirmed that the COVID-19 vaccine poses only a modest risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) or blood clots, contrary to claims by anti-vaccine advocates. Additionally, the study found that infection with COVID-19 poses a significant risk of blood clots.

This paper was published online February 1 in the Journal of Clinical and Translational Science.

“This population-based study found only a modest risk of VTE after COVID-19 vaccination,” he said. Peter L. Elkin, MDfirst author of the paper, UB Distinguished Professor and Chair Department of Biomedical Informatics He holds a PhD from the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, UB.

“Given the high risk of VTE from COVID-19 infection, the risk-benefit ratio strongly favored vaccination,” said Elkin, who is also a physician at UBMD Internal Medicine.

This study was initiated to investigate whether receiving the COVID-19 vaccine increases the risk of developing VTE. This is a widely circulated claim on social and mainstream media.

“We wanted to know the truth”

“There have been concerns that COVID-19 vaccination could cause undue harm and that VTE is one of the mechanisms by which anti-vacciners are involved,” Elkin said. I wanted to know.”

The survey period spans from January 1, 2020 (just before COVID-19 was detected in the United States) to March 6, 2022, and is based on data from the VA National Surveillance Service for veterans over the age of 45. increase. tool. The data included his 855,686 who had received at least one SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and his 321,676 unvaccinated controls.

To definitively identify whether vaccines might affect the risk of VTE, researchers considered many factors that are predictors of VTE, including age, race, sex, and BMI. .

The study found that the VTE rate in vaccinated individuals was 1.3755 per 1,000, which was 0.1% higher than the baseline VTE rate of 1.3741 per 1,000 in unvaccinated individuals. rice field.

1.4 more per million patients

“The excess risk was about 1.4 cases per million vaccinated patients,” said Elkin. “Given the fact that the incidence of VTE from COVID-19 is several orders of magnitude greater than the trivial risk from vaccination, our study supports the safety and efficacy of staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccination. It reinforces its importance.”

He suggested that the very small increased risk of VTE in some vaccinated patients could be attributed to a phenomenon called vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia (VITT). Other studies have reported that VITT is an immune response that may lead to fewer malformed and sticky platelets, leading to VTE.

Elkin said the study is an example of how translational science can be applied to the most important scientific questions facing society today, in this case the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine. I said that it is to demonstrate

“This study used electronic health record data in a rigorous way to answer questions that randomized controlled trials could not adequately answer due to small effect sizes and the need to recruit millions of patients. It shows the power of big data that can answer the trial,” he said.

“This will explore how biomedical informatics is answering important clinical questions that can help people become more aware of the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination and improve adherence to this approved clinical guideline. It’s an example to show,” said Elkin.

Other UB co-authors are Wilmon McCray, Melissa Resnick, Kendria Hall, and Gillian Franklin. Other co-authors are from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Knowledge Base Systems, and VA Western New York Health Care System. Harvard Medical School and University of Vermont.

This work was funded in part by grants from the National Library of Medicine and the Center for the Advancement of Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health.

Elkin is the Informatics Core Director of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute in UB, which is funded by NIH NCATS.