After reports first came out that some people suffered from blood clots after receiving AstraZeneca jabs, some countries reconsidered the use of this company's vaccine. In the UK for instance, alternative vaccines become more available for those under 40 years of age to prevent more deadly side effects from occurring.
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What is the trigger?
In a revolutionary new study, scientists have found that a protein in our blood is attracted to a key component of the vaccine, which is at the root of why blood clots can happen to some people.
Essentially, the research observed that this protein can trigger a chain reaction involving the immune system that can eventually lead to dangerous clotting. Dr Will Lester, a consultant haematologist at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust said about the findings:
Many questions still remain unanswered, including whether some people may be more susceptible than others and why the thrombosis (clotting) is most commonly in the veins of the brain and liver, but this may come with time and further research.
Millions of lives saved
Despite the concern and controversy surrounding the AstraZeneca vaccine, data collected has shown that the jab's positive effects on a global scale far outweigh the negative. In total, vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia killed 73 people out of the nearly 50 million doses administered in the UK.
The company has said that their vaccine saved more than a million lives around the world and prevented around 50 million cases of the virus. Prof Alan Parker, one of the researchers at Cardiff University, told BBC News:
You could never have predicted it would have happened and the chances are vanishingly small, so we need to remember the bigger picture of the number of lives this vaccine has saved,
