Scientists in the United States and the United Kingdom claim that they have discovered a potential mechanism that triggers blood clots in some people who received the jab developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. They believed that the shot's viral vector could be the issue.
Medical experts pointed out that the vaccine's benefits outweigh the risks, as several studies claim that COVID-19 poses a greater threat of blood clots than vaccination.
AstraZeneca Vaccine Causing Blood Clots Among Its Recipients
The Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is thought to have saved millions of lives worldwide from severe COVID-19. However, it also caused rare and mysterious blood clots that affected how the vaccine had been used worldwide, BBC News reported.
Due to these mysterious blood clots, scientists have begun a detective hunt to determine what triggers the rare side effect and whether it could be prevented. Researchers from Cardiff University in the UK, who were given emergency government funding, collaborated with Arizona State University in the US to answer these vaccine-induced blood clots.
Scientists from AstraZeneca have also joined the research project after earlier results from the team have been published. An AstraZeneca spokesperson said that the clots were more likely to occur with COVID-19 than the vaccine, although the complete explanation for this phenomenon is yet to be published.
"Although the research is not definitive, it offers interesting insights and AstraZeneca is exploring ways to leverage these findings as part of our efforts to remove this extremely rare side effect," BBC quoted the spokesperson.
Read also: COVID-19 Vaccine Side Effect: Risks of Getting Life-Threatening Blood Clots in Brain "Extremely Low"
Viral Vector in AstraZeneca Vaccine Triggers Blood Clots
In the study titled, "ChAdOx1 Interacts With CAR and PF4 With Implications for Thrombosis With Thrombocytopenia Syndrome," published in Science Advances, researchers suggested that the viral vector used in the vaccine could be the issue.
According to The New York Times, the viral vector is a vaccine ingredient responsible for transporting the genetic material of the coronavirus into the recipient's cell to train the immune system to recognize and battle the virus.
The study reported that the adenovirus leaked into the bloodstream and bonded to a protein called platelet factor 4 (PF4), which is involved in the natural clotting process. This reaction leads the body to release antibodies against PF4 that cause platelets to cluster and form blood clots in rare cases.
The COVID-19 vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson also uses an adenovirus to carry spike proteins from coronavirus and introduce it to human cells and trigger an immune response linked to blood clotting.
CNBC reported that scientists call the reaction on the binding of viral vector to PF4 a misplaced immunity. Alan Parker, a professor at Cardiff University's School of Medicine, said that a better understanding of this mechanism provides an opportunity to engineer the capsid or the outer shell of the vaccine and prevent this reaction from occurring to avoid blood clots.
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