Thread by @mimifontaine

#AstraZenaca #vaccine and Guillain-Barre Syndrome: are the UK authorities missing a clear safety signal?

GBS can be caused by certain infections and there is also a small associated risk with some vaccinations, notably influenza.

What about the Covid vaccines?

In the UK the two main vaccines are AZ and Pfizer

The table below compares the incidence of GBS per million doses of each vaccine

GBS is reported 5 times as often after AZ than Pfizer

But could there be differences in the people who got AZ / Pfizer that could explain this?

GBS is most common in over 50s and older age groups are likely over-represented in the AZ group because of the JCVI guidance to prefer mRNA for under 40s

Can we quantify this? Unfortunately the UK is not transparent as to the age breakdown between the 2 vaccines

However...

In its weekly TTS reporting, MHRA provides just enough information to infer that around 14 million AZ doses were given to under 50s

Across the UK, around 29m doses of any vaccine have been given to under 50s

So roughly: 14m AZ, 15m Pfizer

gov.uk/government/pub…

As a % of doses of each vaccine:

31% of AZ doses were given to under 50s (69% to over 50s)

52% of Pfizer doses were given to under 50s (48% to over 50s)

So we could expect the higher % of over 50s to explain some of the difference in GBS incidence, but not all

Since the proportion of over 50s in the AZ group is 44% (69/48) higher than the Pfizer group, we might expect the incidence of GBS to be 44% higher in AZ than Pfizer because of the age difference

But it's over 400% higher

Meanwhile, the EMA started looking into GBS+AZ in May

In a June update the EMA announced that it was still investigating a potential signal and had found 156 cases after 40m AZ doses

That's just under 4 cases per million AZ doses

In the UK we have 7 cases per million AZ doses, yet no acknowledgement of this by @MHRAgovuk

The EMA also requested healthcare professionals to report cases of GBS post vaccination

Has @MHRAgovuk done the same? I can't find any evidence of a similar communication in the UK

After being the last regulator in Europe to spot VITT, is MHRA asleep at the wheel yet again?

Anecdotal cases of GBS post AZ are finally being reported in the media

This 54 y/o man experienced GBS after AZ and his MP wrote to Nadhim Zahawi, the UK vaccine minister

The response from Zahawi?

Seek mental health advice or contact the Samaritans!

inews.co.uk/news/man-paral…

Thanks for reading and please consider signing this petition for an overhaul of the woefully inadequate UK vaccine compensation scheme

Charlotte lost her 32 year old husband to VITT after AZ, a vaccine the government said was "perfectly safe"

https://twitter.com/Charlot18701664/status/1400547060533891074