India Has 26 Suspected Cases Of Bleeding, Blood Clot After Covishield Administration: Govt

The Union Health Ministry on Monday, May 7, reported that they have identified 26 suspected cases of bleeding and blood clots in the country after the administration of the Covishield vaccine.

A government panel on AEFI (Adverse Events Following Immunisation) stated that more than 23,000 adverse events were reported through the CO-WIN app. These reactions were registered from 684 of the 753 districts in the country, reported The Times of India.

It further said that after studying 498 samples, out of the 700, 'serious and severe events' and found that only 26 reported as "potential thromboembolic events" which referred to the potential fatal formation of a blood clot that might also break loose and be carried by the bloodstream to impact other vessels.

The panel said that there was a 'minuscule' but definitive risk of thromboembolic events after one is vaccinated. It ensured that the rate of these events in India was about 0.61 per million doses.

It was noted that this figure was far below the four cases per million doses reported by the United Kingdom's health agencies, and the 10 cases per million doses reported by Germany.

This is the first time the country has experienced any serious reaction to the vaccine. The committee also added that there were no registered potential thromboembolic cases after the administration of Covaxin, the vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech. The ministry has issued advisories for health care workers and vaccine beneficiaries to ensure that people are aware of the possible thromboembolic symptoms.

"It is important to know that thromboembolic events keep occurring in the general population... background and scientific literature suggests this risk is almost 70 per cent less in persons of South and South East Asian descent in comparison to those from European descent," the panel said.

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