10 Comments

Hi Dr Jetelina- can you tell me how this compares to the risk of blood clots from oral contraceptives? A risk that our physicians are generally okay with us taking?

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Apr 13, 2021Liked by Katelyn Jetelina

According to a French study published in 2014 of 4 million women exposed daily to oral contraceptives, there were 2,529 thrombotic events attributable to their use. There were a corresponding 20 premature deaths.

(Source- https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0093792)

So given there are 6 thrombotic events based on over 6.8 million vaccinations using the J&J vaccine, means the comparative risk is infinitesimal. They have not even shown that there is a causal link between the vaccine and these thrombotic events, or that they are happening with greater significance than random occurrence.

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I had the same thought, Katie!

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Random occurrence of venous thrombosis is annual rate of 1 in 1000 for adults (Cushman, 2007; CDC, 2020). So given we are talking about 1 in over 1 million (vaccinated with J&J vaccine) the fact they stopped the usage of the vaccine with no attributable causal effects is ridiculous.

Are we now replacing science with irrational fear when making decisions?

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2020806/#:~:text=Venous%20thrombosis%2C%20including%20deep%20vein,than%20women%20in%20older%20age.

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/dvt/data.html

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Two thoughts

1) Could Factor 5 Leiden Mutation be at play here? 5% of Caucasians have it. Don’t know other populations - and it increases clotting risk.

2) I know much less about this, and think about in terms of AZ, unless the same type of clots happen with J&J

“ Genetic studies have not consistently identified risk alleles for HIT, the production of platelet factor 4/heparin antibodies or the thromboembolic complications of HIT. Genes implicated in HIT and platelet factor 4/heparin antibody levels include FCGR2A, TDAG8, HLA-DR and others. Compelling evidence also suggests that the FCGR2A H131R polymorphism is associated with HIT-related thrombosis.”

https://www.futuremedicine.com/doi/abs/10.2217/pgs-2018-0147

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Is it ok for me to copy and paste this article into a forum that's having a vaccine discussion - with a link to it here and giving you full credit?

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author

go for it!

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Thank you for all of your info and work around informing the public about this. I subscribed, in part, so I can see your sources cited. Where can I find those?

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So how are things going with Novavax? Are they experiencing similar findings as J&J and AZ in their trials? This is a huge bummer for those of us with PEG allergy.

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What are the treatment options for the rare disorder? Now that we know the symptoms and can get affected individuals to recognize it, and the doctors can respond, can these rare deaths be completely avoided?

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