Don t show me this message again✕
A vial of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 jab (FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images)
Scientists in Germany believe they have found the cause of the rare blood clots linked to the Oxford/AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccines.
If borne out, the findings could lead to the jabs being altered in order to prevent the reaction.
The researchers, in a study which is yet to be reviewed by experts, said Covid-19 vaccines that employ adenovirus vectors - cold viruses used to deliver vaccine material - send some of their payload into the nucleus of cells, where some of the instructions for making coronavirus proteins could be misread, with the resulting proteins potentially triggering blood clot disorders in a small number of recipients.
Credit: PA
Three young people have suffered strokes and one has died soon after receiving the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, prompting a call for doctors to be vigilant.
Two women in their 30s and a man in his 40s suffered clots in their large arteries, leading to ischaemic stroke, but experts have stressed the chances were still extremely small.
A team of experts from the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery at University College London (UCL) Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and other medical organisations said the NHS must look out for patients with ischaemic stroke within about one month of vaccination.