Oxford vaccine benefits far outweigh clotting risks says Nottingham expert
Professor David Turner is leading a study in alternating Covid vaccines
A leading expert in Covid vaccinations says that the benefits of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine far outweigh any risks after suggestions that the jab could cause blood clots.
Professor David Turner is one of the lead researchers on a seven-million-pound national study being led in Nottingham which is looking at if alternating vaccine doses has an impact on their effectiveness.
The study, classified as an Urgent Public Health study by the NIHR, is being undertaken by the National Immunisation Schedule Evaluation Consortium (NISEC) and the Oxford Vaccine Group.
Speaking to Gem Professor Turner said: "If you take people over the age of 50 and you take say 100,000, and everyone of those gets covid we'd expect to see about 200 deaths from covid. You'd have to vaccinate 250,000 to see one case of the cerebral venous thrombosis."
"The Moderna vaccine and the Pfizer vaccine, we haven't been seeing these thrombotic cases, at least not so far. That's not to say that they might not also occur with these vaccines but it would seem to be with the AstraZeneca vaccine, I say bigger risk but it's a very, very tiny risk indeed."
Professor Turner also said that while vulnerable people were less at risk to the dangers of covid, this rule doesn't apply in terms of the potential for cerebral venous thrombosis saying "The risk of covid is substantially lower in the under 30s. We think that there may be a similar risk or maybe even a slightly higher risk of the thrombosis syndrome in the younger people. The JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation) have advised that, where possible, people under the age of 30 should be offered one of the other vaccines.