Contraception blood-clot risk: ‘public need better access to advice’

Women need more information about contraceptive options, experts said, after concerns over rare blood clots linked to the AstraZeneca Covid jab prompted a debate over side-effects caused by certain forms of the pill.

On Wednesday the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said that evidence that the jab could be causing a rare blood clotting syndrome was growing stronger. As a result the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended that healthy people under the age of 30 who were at low risk of Covid should be offered a different vaccine if possible.

But the announcement prompted numerous posts on social media questioning why there had been little comment on combined hormonal contraceptives.

These methods, which include certain pills, vaginal rings and patches, contain forms of oestrogen and progesterone hormones and have been associated with increased risk of clots, including deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) – a very rare clot on the brain.

Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain Adam Finn, a professor who is part of the JCVI, confirmed the difference in risk.

“The risks of thrombosis that come with taking the pill are very much higher than the risks that we were just seeing on those slides [relating to the rare blood clots from the AstraZeneca vaccine],” he said.

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Source: The Guardian, 9 April 2021