AstraZenica vaccine & Blood Clots

The main risk factors seem to be being young and female. I asked my GI because I am on both xeljanz and birth control which both have a thrombosis risk, he said he was very happy I'd had the vaccine and not to worry about it. No evidence for IBD being a risk factor.
I had the Astrazeneca vaccine about 4 weeks ago. I was really scared during the second week especially as my country suspended it for under 60s in that time. I think the important thing to remember is that the odds of dying from covid are at least 100 times greater than dying from the vaccine (maybe 1000 times) and that a very high percentage of hospitalized covid patients develop thrombosis. Also be aware of the warning signs for this adverse reaction because if you catch it early then it's treatable.

Hi I don't know what they would do in Canada (I'm in Europe)... I educated myself via google because at the point when I had mine they were still establishing if the risk was there. A quick search now says to be aware for the following:

A severe or persistent headache
Blurred vision
Shortness of breath
Leg or arm swelling
Chest pain
Persistent abdominal pain
Pinpoint spots beyond the injection site
Unusual bruising

I am embarrassed to admit I called the GP 4 times during week 2 because I kept getting headaches....apparently a headache lasting longer than 4 days or which keeps getting worse is cause for concern (i think mine was a migraine triggered by the sun and low blood sugar)...

It was definitely scary in that second week (didn't help that it was all over the news and half of Europe banned it during that week), but now that I'm on the other side I'm very relieved and grateful to have some protection against covid.

Pps another symptom is fainting

Serenity Now said...
Thanks for all this info, poopydoop! I tend to be one of these people who are hypervigilant about "symptoms to watch for" so my poor GP might be i5n for a few calls if I get this shot...

Hahaha I'm sure you won't be alone in that! I am also neurotic but better to be safe than sorry....

ewafromwarsaw said...
In Poland, two women in their 30's died shortly after being vaccinated with Astra. I will never ever get Astra or Johnson vaccine, only Pfizer or Moderna

Good for you. I had a choice of being vaccinated in March with AstraZeneca (GP had some leftover vaccines at the end of the day while doing the over 60s) or waiting until June (when it should have been my turn) to be vaccinated with an unknown vaccine, which could be any of them. I decided I'd rather be protected earlier. I do not get to request pfizer/moderna, the government decides for me. The odds of a blood clotting disorder from AZ are around 1 in 100,000 and then whether or not you die from it depends on getting prompt medical treatment. The odds of dying from covid for someone my age and with ibd are somewhere around 1 in 300. The odds of getting long-term problems following a covid infection are around 10%.
The difficulty is there is no way of knowing if those who had the reaction to the covid vaccine would have had a similar reaction to a covid infection (it's basically an over reaction of the immune system so it ends up attacking its own platelets).
It's easy to react with fear, but the best thing is presenting all information and then letting people make an informed choice. But in many countries we don't get a choice, you get the vaccine you're given.

Thanks for the input... I don't think I get to choose which vaccine I get, aside from choosing to get AstraZeneca right now, or wait and get whatever is waiting for me when they call me in (probably a month from now? I am guessing?). From everything I've read, I'd choose the Pfizer if I were able to.

RE Poopydoop on friend's reaction to Pfizer: 3TimeChamp recently posted in a different thread that he got a strong reaction after #2 shot, but he had COVID-19 in March 2020 & got hospitalized due to it for several days, then he added that already having COVID likely caused his strong side effects following mRNA vaccine, according to what he's heard. Serenity, if your region of Canada has a low COVID infection rate & you can socially distance, you're likely ok holding off vaccination for another month. I know that Ontario had high infection during virus surges-- but west has not been that bad, correct? / Old Hat

I’m in Canada and opted to get the AstraZeneca shot when it became available to the 40+ crowd. IBD alone didn’t qualify me under the high risk populations who are eligible for the moderna\pfizer now. Being in the lowest end of the 40+ group I figured if I didn’t take the AZ now it could be months until supply here was good enough for me to be able to access the MNRA doses. The research I found online (mostly from UK) indicated IBD were at no greater risk of these clots than the general population. When I got the jab the nurse asked me about any autoimmune disease and I advised of my IBD, she looked it up and confirmed it was ok for me to receive. Honestly, for me, a guaranteed vaccine today is better than a maybe vaccine sometime in the future.... they’re also doing studies to see if someone who gets the AZ as a first shot can take one of the MNRA as a second. So, perhaps by the time of 2nd dose I could get something else. Oh, and yes, they gave me a list of specific things to watch for after AZ.

Stay safe everyone.

Thanks toomuchpoopin for that great info. You addressed some of the things I have been wondering about. I'm 54 so should not have to wait as long, but still any amount of waiting is a risk.

Thanks again Old Hat for your input about the risks. Best wishes to you as well.