Londoner hospitalised with blood clot after AstraZeneca Covid vaccine urges others to get jab

Vials labelled "AstraZeneca COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine" and a syringe are seen in front of a displayed AstraZeneca logo
REUTERS
Luke O'Reilly9 April 2021

A Londoner who was hospitalised with multiple blood clots after getting the Oxford/Astrazeneca Covid vaccine has urged others to get the jab.

Mohammed Choudhary, 34, told MailOnline that he had no immediate reaction to the vaccine, and only began to feel pains in his calf 13 days later.

At first he thought he had injured himself on one of his regular 5km runs.

But over the following five days, the fit and healthy financial services worker experienced chest pains, breathlessness, and headaches.

After ringing 111 he was advised to visit A&E at the Royal London Hospital. He was then diagnosed with a blood clot before being taken to the critical care ward.

"The diagnosis of [Deep Vein Thrombosis] was a real shock", he said.

"They told me it started in my leg and had spread to my lungs and they would have to give me a CT scan to check if there was any clots on the brain.

"Initially I was on the ward, then moved into critical care. This was out of nowhere, I had no understanding that this was even a possibility. When they said they needed to scan me to check for clots in the brain, that was a really scary moment."

Mr Choudhary was put on IV tubes with blood thinners to combat the clots. Luckily, after a few days he was able to leave the hospital and is now recovering at home. He will need to take blood thinners for the next six months.

Coronavirus - Wed Apr 7, 2021
The UK will now offer recipients under-30 an alternative vaccine
PA

Even though he believes it was the vaccine that led to his hospitalisation, Mr Choudhary encouraged members of the public to still take the AstraZeneca jab.

"Despite my experience I would still advise anyone to have the jab", he said.

"I just want to raise awareness of the signs to look for in the extremely rare cases where blood clots developed as a side-effect."

The MHRA has said that 79 cases of blood clots have been identified in the UK following the AstraZeneca vaccine, with 19 proving fatal. 

This is out of more than 20 million doses of the jab. The risk of developing a blood clot is estimated to be one in 250,000.

According to the NHS' website, potential symptoms of bood clotting include: "Throbbing or cramping pain, swelling, redness and warmth in a leg or arm" as well as "sudden breathlessness, sharp chest pain (may be worse when you breathe in) and a cough or coughing up blood."

It comes after the UK medicines regulator recommended that people under the age of 30 should be offered alternatives to the AstraZeneca vaccine due to potential links with rare brain clots.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said the benefits of the vaccine still outweigh the risks overall, but that the links between the vaccine and brain clots is getting firmer.

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