United States: During the time when the United States was dealing with COVID and long COVID, the researchers shared two new extremely rare side effects of the COVID-19 vaccines.
The researchers of the largest vaccine safety study have raised concern after the side effects have been discovered by the researchers. The recently conducted study tested 13 brain, blood, and heart conditions of the people who have received jabs from any of the COVID-19 vaccines – Pfizer, Moderna, or AstraZeneca.
Accordingly, the effects of the vaccines were compared to effects during the pre-pandemic, the recent reports by 1news mentioned.
Which two side effects were found during the study?
The researchers – who were involved in the study – stated that the two new and extremely rare side effects were seen in the people who received the AstraZeneca vaccine. The side effects are listed below:
- Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis – the disease causes inflammation and swelling in the brain and spinal cord, and
- Transverse myelitis – the disease causes spinal cord inflammation.
In addition to this, the researchers have also sounded alarm after the link between COVID-19 mRNA (Pfizer and Moderna) vaccines and side effects, including myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) and pericarditis (swelling of the thin sac covering the heart), were discovered, according to the reports by 1news.
In addition to this, the link between the AstraZeneca Vaccine and side effects like Guillain-Barre syndrome (where the immune system attacks nerves) and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (a type of brain blood clot) were detected.
The background of the study!
The study was conducted on around 99 million people from several countries, and it was published in the international journal Vaccine on Friday.
Through the study, the researchers have also addressed the rare vaccination complications and stated that the benefits of COVID-19 vaccines still “vastly outweigh the risks.”
While emphasizing the risk rate of the rare complications, the researchers mentioned that there is an extremely small risk of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis and transverse myelitis, i.e., 0.78 cases every million doses and 1.82 cases per million doses, respectively.
What do experts have to say about the recent study?
The co-director of the Global Vaccine Data Network – Professor Jim Buttery, stated, “For rare side effects, we don’t learn about them until the vaccine has been used in millions of people,” according to 1news.
Buttery was further quoted saying, “No clinical trial can ever have the size to answer those questions, and so we only find out those questions after a vaccine has been introduced.”
Along with this, a vaccine expert, Professor Julie Leask, highlighted that these findings must be kept in perspective as COVID infection increases the risk of some of the rare conditions more than a vaccine does, as per 1news.
She also mentioned that the experts have been paying special attention to the vaccines and their side effects, and “they’re acting on it,” Leask emphasized.
“Being confident in a system that will detect problems and address them is a very important part of a robust vaccination program,” she further claimed.