ROMA — What is cerebral venous thrombosis?
“Thrombosis is about blood clotting. They affect the deep veins of the leg and lungs, they affect 60,000 people a year in Italy, with an incidence of one case in 1000. So a common cardiovascular disease. Cerebral venous thrombosis, on the other hand, is a much rarer phenomenon, one case per 1-2 million inhabitants. There is no relationship with stroke and heart attack, which are thrombosis of the arteries ».
Pier Mannuccio Mannucci, hematologist of the Maggiore hospital, Policlinico di Milano, is one of the coagulation experts appointed by Aifa to support the decisions of the agency in this phase of reporting episodes not yet explained.
Is there a link between these rare thromboses and the vaccine?
“It is striking that an already rare form of thrombosis in itself, reported in people who had received the vaccine, is associated with bleeding caused by decreased platelets. It is a circumstance that I had never observed in many years. The decrease in platelets has generated the suspicion of a possible link with vaccination in Germany, 31 cases out of 2.7 million. It is a new phenomenon to investigate. In Great Britain there have been 30 cases out of 18 million vaccinated with AstraZeneca: the incidence of rare thrombosis has not increased ».
How many Italian cases are there?
“Less than a dozen.”
Why can these events occur days after inoculation and not immediately?
“The Italian cases I have dealt with directly occurred between the third and fifteenth day after vaccination. The hypothesis – but, I stress, it is only a hypothesis – is that at the origin there is an immunological mechanism. Platelets are affected and eliminated by the antibodies produced by the vaccine. At this point, substances are activated that stimulate thrombogenesis, ie the formation of blood clots that end up in the cerebral veins and abdomen. The vaccine could stimulate an immunological reaction against antigens other than the Spike protein, target of anti-Covid “.
Do you agree with the choice of the Netherlands, Canada, France and Germany to stop vaccinations with AstraZeneca under the age of 55-60?
“It is a very questionable choice. Post vaccine cerebral venous thrombosis has also been observed in people over the age of 60, I don’t understand the reason why a limit should be foreseen “.
Have rare post-vaccine thromboses affected more women than men?
“60% are women, but the number of cases is too low to say they are more affected.”