More than two dozen cases of rare blood thrombocytopenia have been reported in people who received COVID vaccines in the USA. However, a link between the COVID vaccines and the disease that affects platelets has not been proven.
The Vaccine Adverse Event Notification System (VAERS), which is jointly administered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is recording any potential side effects experienced by people after receiving the vaccine.
At the end of January, 32 cases of decreased platelet count, 14 cases of thrombocytopenia and 11 cases of immune thrombocytopenia were reported in people who received the Pfizer or Moderna COVID vaccines in the USA
More than 43 million doses of vaccine have been administered in the USA
Last month, a man in Florida died after developing thrombocytopenia days after being vaccinated against COVID. Doctor Gregory Michael, 56, a Miami resident, started showing symptoms of a form of the disease called idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) days after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. He died two weeks after a brain hemorrhage.
Newsweek contacted Pfizer e Moderna for comment on the cases. Pfizer said The New York Times “At this time, we were unable to establish a causal association with our vaccine” and that it was collecting relevant information to share with the FDA.
Moderna told the newspaper that “it continuously monitors the safety of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine using all data sources.”
Experts have already said Newsweek that rare side effects may arise as vaccines are distributed in large populations, but the benefits outweigh the risks.
Which is thrombocytopenia?
Thrombocytopenia it is a rare disease that reduces the number of platelets in the blood.
Platelets, which are also known as thrombocytes, are essential cells for the formation of blood clots, a process that prevents you from continually bleeding at the site of an injury.
According to the Platelet Disorder Support Association (PDSA), about 100,000 people in the U.S. have the disease.
What causes thrombocytopenia?
Thrombocytopenia can occur in families. However, it can also be triggered as an immune response to infections, diseases or medications. In this case, the condition is known as immune thrombocytopenia or idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP).
ITP it causes white blood cells, which create antibodies that fight infections, to attack the body’s own platelets.
What are the symptoms of thrombocytopenia?
Symptoms of thrombocytopenia they include bruises above the bleeding areas under the skin, flattened red spots and the presence of blood in the stool or urine.
However, these symptoms can only appear when the platelet count drops to dangerously low levels.
A normal platelet count ranges from 150,000 to 450,000 platelets per microliter of blood, but symptoms can only appear when the platelet count drops below 10,000 per microliter.
In that case, bleeding or bruising may occur for no apparent reason.
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