A team of scientists in Wales and the US believe they have found “the trigger” for the extremely rare blood clots after the AstraZeneca vaccine was given. The team, reports the BBC, has shown in detail how a protein in the blood is attracted to a key component of the vaccine devised in Oxford, triggering a chain reaction involving the immune system and which can culminate in dangerous clots. Alan Parker, one of the Cardiff University researchers, told the BBC: “What we have is the trigger, but there are many steps that need to happen next.”
The study was published in the journal Science Advances. “Although the research is not definitive, it offers interesting insights and AstraZeneca is exploring ways to exploit these findings as part of our efforts to remove this extremely rare side effect,” explained a spokesman for the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company. Oxford University, on the other hand, declined to comment on the research. According to AstraZeneca, its vaccine has saved more than a million lives worldwide and prevented 50 million Covid cases. But in the wake of the rare cases of blood clots, the use of this type of vaccine around the world has been reduced, and vaccines using more modern technology, with the messenger MRNA, are now used for boosters.
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