Stop Blood Clots by Taking the Vaccine

Concerns over the rare blood-clotting condition called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) has shut down the deployment of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and contributed to the constriction of AstraZeneca’s vaccine rollout. Researchers at the University of Oxford released their study on April 15, showing, however, that contracting Covid-19 leads to a risk of rare blood clots “around 100 times greater than normal"—that is, many times higher than any risk that might be associated with the current vaccines. The researchers looked at the health records of 500,000 Covid-19 patients to estimate the absolute incidence of CVST in the two weeks following Covid-19 diagnosis or following vaccination. Since the vaccines are highly effective at preventing Covid-19, taking them also dramatically reduces, though does not eliminate, the incidence of CVST.