Avoid Using Heparin To Treat Covid Vaccine-Related Rare Blood Clots: EMA

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has released new guidelines recommending physicians not to use heparin to treat uncommon blood clots in people who received AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) issued new recommendations on Monday advising clinicians not to use the blood thinner heparin to treat rare blood clots and low blood platelets in persons who had gotten AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson (J&J) covid vaccine. In order to guarantee adequate treatment, Europe's medicines authority highlighted interim recommendations from the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH). In April, the ISTH concluded "management should be initiated with non-heparin anticoagulation upon suspicion" of vaccine-linked clotting and low platelets.

Avoid The Use Of Heparin For Blood Clots: EMA

The EMA's decision to emphasise the ISTH guidelines is in accordance with FDA and Centers for Disease Control recommendations, which have issued strong warnings against using heparin in such circumstances, claiming that it might make the disease worse. As per the ISTH guidelines, doctors should continue with non-heparin anticoagulants and consider administering high-dose intravenous immunoglobulin once a case of vaccine-induced clotting and low platelets is confirmed.

According to the drug regulator of the European Economic Area, 316 incidents of uncommon blood clots with low platelets have been reported in individuals who got AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccination.

Blood Clots Reported After Receiving Astra-Zeneca Or Johnson & Johnson Covid Vaccine

Reports of people developing rare but serious blood clots after getting the AstraZeneca or J&J vaccine have been doing rounds for a while. Both the AstraZeneca and J&J vaccines have been linked to extremely uncommon clotting, namely a kind of blood clot known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), which has been linked to low blood platelet counts, or thrombocytopenia. Following the news, many European countries have halted the use of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, which is manufactured and used in India as Covishield.

However, International drug regulators have also highlighted that the benefits of the Covid-19 vaccines outweigh the dangers as they continue to study allegations of rare but possibly fatal blood clots. Also, the companies have said that the cases are rare, and they are investigating the occurrence of these rare events.

According to media reports, J&J said that no causal link between the vaccination and the clots have been found so far. AstraZeneca, whose vaccine packaging contains a warning notice mandated by regulators, has stated that it is investigating individual instances and "possible mechanisms that could explain these extremely rare events".

What Are These Blood Clots?

The rare blood clot is known as thrombosis and the majority of the clots, according to the European Medicines Agency (EMA), occurred in the brain and abdomen. According to CDC, the clotting episodes have been observed in several parts of the body, including the femoral vein and artery, internal jugular vein, upper extremity veins, and the pulmonary artery. This clot can clog or stop blood flow in the afflicted location, as well as create major issues if it travels to a vital component of the circulatory system like the brain or lungs.