British regulator says AstraZeneca COVID shot clots rise to 168

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s medicines regulator on Thursday said there had been 168 major blood clots following a dose of COVID-19 vaccine, a rate of 7.9 clots per million doses, a jump in incidence from the previous week’s figure.

This was up from the 100 cases reported last week, when the overall case incidence was 4.9 per million doses.

There has been scrutiny of the AstraZeneca vaccine on the issue of the very rare clots and some countries, including Britain, have recommended that only people over a certain age get the shot.

Adam Finn, Professor of Paediatrics at Bristol University, said the jump in reported cases was expected.

“Cases are being reported reliably and quickly but there are also cases that occurred previously now being recognised and reported as well,” Finn said.

“I would expect the true number of cases per million doses of vaccine to become clear fairly soon as these reports stabilise but it is already clear that it is going to remain a very rare event.”