Find out why the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine can cause thrombosis

The cases of thrombosis brain in some people who have received the vaccine AstraZeneca has aroused fear in many countries which, to this day, they refuse to renew the contract with the pharmacist. After several months of doubts and scientific research, two studies published in The New England Journal of Medicine point out that the key is in a small protein called plaquetario factor 4 (FP4).

The researchers only studied the reasons for the death of the 16 people who had received the vaccine AstraZeneca in Germany, Austria and Norway. However, they assume that the same thing would have happened in the six cases of thrombosis in the United States, which resulted in deaths and were recorded in people who received the vaccine Johnson & johnson, based on the same technology as that of AstraZeneca, but which was not analyzed in this case.

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According to what has been explained by scientists, in the very rare cases in which the immunological system generates antibodies against this protein plaquetario factor 4, “There is a phenomenon of thrombosis accompanied by a paradoxical decrease in the number of platelets in the blood, which are the components that form clots ”.

The authors of both surveys pointed out that antibodies against FP4 can be identified with a diagnostic test which in Europe is available for all major hospitals. “This test is commonly used to detect a similar disorder triggered by heparin (an anticoagulant drug) in which antibodies against FP4 are also raised and also produced thrombosis with platelet deficit“.

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In this sense, they warned: “If the antibodies against FP4 are detected in time, adequate treatment can dissolve thrombi and solve the problem without after-effects ”. The authors of the two surveys proposed to administer immunoglobulins intravenously, a therapy that has shown efficacy against heparin-triggered thrombosis. However, if the problem is not diagnosed correctly, it can be fatal.

Of the 11 German and Austrian patients described in one of the reports, nine were women and the average age was 36 years old. As detailed by specialists, they began to suffer from symptoms between 5 and 13 days later to receive AstraZeneca, which is consistent with the hypothesis that the disorder is due to the action of antibodies, as several days must elapse between vaccination and the development of antibodies. “Such an observation confirms that headache and other symptoms that may occur during the first 48 hours after vaccination they are not alarming, ”they explained.

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In nine of these eleven patients, cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, although several have affected blood vessels in other parts of the body as well. “Three had pulmonary embolism; three, thrombosis in the veins of the abdomen; four, other thromboses; and five, disseminated intravascular coagulation. Six of them died. Despite the diversity of the affected organs, all had in common the presence of antibodies against the FP4 protein and platelet deficiency in the blood, ”they revealed.

Meanwhile, the five people of the Norwegian study (four women and one man between 32 and 54) also had a wide variety of symptoms and affected the blood vessels: one said she had abdominal pain, another back pain, another fever, another dizziness and four of them had headaches. Common factors, they said, were also the presence of antibodies against FP4, thrombus formation and platelet deficit.

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“By providing a link between thrombosis and the immune system, these results reinforce the idea that the vaccination could have triggered the syndrome ”, conclude the researchers from the University Hospital of Oslo (Norway) in The New England Journal of Medicine .

In this sense, they recalled that previous studies had already shown that antibodies against FP4 activate the platelets and the monocytes (a type of cell in the immune system), which increases the production of thrombin (an enzyme involved in blood clotting), which causes thrombosis. Finally, they said that the main hypothesis points to a component of the adenovirus vaccine, although it has not yet been identified.