Readers respond to the latest recommendations about the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine
Your editorial calling for clarity on the AstraZeneca vaccine’s side-effects risks both being unclear and undermining confidence (The Guardian view on the AstraZeneca vaccine: confidence from clarity, 7 April). You imply that the rate of potentially serious cerebral venous sinus thrombosis is 0.0001%. The important risk, though, is to those in the segment of the population who are most likely to be affected, namely younger women. If only teenagers were affected, it would make no sense to calculate the risk in the entire population.
The vast majority of vaccinations so far have been in the over-60s. So only a small proportion of young women will have been vaccinated. The risk to these women, although still small, may be as high as one in 50,000, as reported in Germany and implied by one of Jonathan Van-Tam’s graphs. Which is why the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommends alternative vaccines in the under-30s. As you say, clarity and openness is the way to persuade people to keep taking the vaccine.
Scott Wilson
St Andrews, Fife
