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A Pause for Panic
Author: BobR    Date: 04/14/2021 12:25:41

There has been a big scare lately regarding the J&J vaccine. It's been reported that 6 women who received the vaccine developed serious blood clots. At a time when skeptics are reluctant to get the vaccine for a myriad of reasons, this just seems like one more. Perhaps some perspective is in order with some actual numbers for comparison:

Number of COVID-19 cases: 31,767,333
Number of COVID-19 deaths: 571,243
Number of J&J vaccines administered: 6,800,00
Number of vaccinated with clots: 6

So what does this add up to?

Percentage of Americans who have had the virus: ~10%
Percentage of those who died: 1.8%
Percentage of vaccine recipients with clots: .000088%

Yes, you are WAY more likely to die from COVID-19 than you are to get blood clots from the vaccine.

Some more truth - all of those who developed the clots are women. There has been some talk that female birth control pills can also cause blood clots, although at least one doctor says it's comparing apples and oranges. Nonetheless, it bears mentioning that blood clotting is a known side effect of numerous medications:
CVST is rare overall — it affects about 5 in 1 million people each year, according to Cedars-Sinai. In general, though, “drugs that can cause blood clots are all medications that can do this,” Jamie Alan, assistant professor of pharmacology at Michigan State University, tells Yahoo Life.

Those can include:
Oral contraceptives
Testosterone supplementation
Warfarin
Heparin
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like aspirin and ibuprofen

Experts stress that the associated risk of CVST from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is incredibly low.

“People have forgotten that COVID-19 is the clear and present danger,” infectious disease expert Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, tells Yahoo Life. “COVID-19 can cause blood clots and kill you. The world needs to get a lot better at risk-benefit calculation.”
(quotes edited for brevity)

These well-known medications can cause blood clots, yet all are used daily with nary a concern about a potentially deadly side effect.



As mentioned in the graphic, blood clots are a known problem with COVID-19. Added all together: the risk of clots with COVID-19, the risk of clots with birth control, and the tiny number of women who developed this condition with the vaccine shows it to be a statistical nothing. It could very well be a combination of any number of factors, including genetic ones. At a time when we are about to get this thing under control, the pausing of this vaccine is troubling.
 
 

13 comments (Latest Comment: 04/14/2021 15:24:34 by livingonli)
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Comment by Raine on 04/14/2021 13:34:42
They also have discovered that these women seem to have a low blood platelet count.

Comment by TriSec on 04/14/2021 13:42:23
Good Morning.

It's "Titanic" day. If only Mitch McConnell would get hit by an iceberg...

Alternately, anything good playing at Ford's Theater tonight that he might want to go see??



Comment by livingonli on 04/14/2021 13:59:27
Bernie Madoff has kicked the bucket in jail.


Comment by Raine on 04/14/2021 14:01:45
Quote by livingonli:
Bernie Madoff has kicked the bucket in jail.

Thoughts...something something...

Comment by TriSec on 04/14/2021 14:35:17
And you shall be the first to know. Things happened very quickly. I literally applied to four jobs last week.

I have an offer on the table already; I am going to the office tomorrow for some "assessments". Essentially, the doctor wants to see me "in action", so I will sit with her front desk folks for a while tomorrow and interact with some patients.

I expect to drive to Framingham after that and hand in my resignation.

Going back to a desk job in my primary industry - and should eventually become the Practice Manager here.

(Single-doc practice in Cambridge; she doesn't want to run the business side anymore and just wants to practice medicine.)


Comment by wickedpam on 04/14/2021 14:45:28
Morning

Comment by BobR on 04/14/2021 14:47:35
Quote by Raine:
They also have discovered that these women seem to have a low blood platelet count.

I too have a low platelet count. It's weird that THAT would be a factor in blood clots.

Comment by BobR on 04/14/2021 14:48:46
Quote by TriSec:
Good Morning.

It's "Titanic" day. If only Mitch McConnell would get hit by an iceberg...

Alternately, anything good playing at Ford's Theater tonight that he might want to go see??


He looks like he just got pulled out of the water after all these years

Comment by BobR on 04/14/2021 14:49:19
Quote by Raine:
Quote by livingonli:
Bernie Madoff has kicked the bucket in jail.

Thoughts...something something...

<-- bucket

Comment by BobR on 04/14/2021 14:50:16
Quote by TriSec:
And you shall be the first to know. Things happened very quickly. I literally applied to four jobs last week.

I have an offer on the table already; I am going to the office tomorrow for some "assessments". Essentially, the doctor wants to see me "in action", so I will sit with her front desk folks for a while tomorrow and interact with some patients.

I expect to drive to Framingham after that and hand in my resignation.

Going back to a desk job in my primary industry - and should eventually become the Practice Manager here.

(Single-doc practice in Cambridge; she doesn't want to run the business side anymore and just wants to practice medicine.)

That's great!

Comment by TriSec on 04/14/2021 14:58:15
Quote by BobR:

I too have a low platelet count. It's weird that THAT would be a factor in blood clots.



I used to donate platelets regularly. (BC, Before Cancer). I've always had such a high count that they were always able to get a "double" out of me. I tried to go back last year, with medical clearance from my doctor, but Covid ruined any attempt.

Perhaps it's time to try again.


Comment by Raine on 04/14/2021 15:12:23
I read this in today's WaPo as well.



Comment by livingonli on 04/14/2021 15:24:34
Right now I am watching the Six Million Dollar Man with their version of a Christmas Carol. How many TV shows have milked that story?