Big data study debunks one of the most common fears surrounding COVID-19 vaccinations

A massive US-based study involving tens of thousands of military veterans has concluded there is a negligible risk of developing a blood clot as a result of a COVID-19 vaccine. While the results might do little to convince many anti-vaccine advocates of the relative safety of vaccinations, it will hopefully reinforce confidence in communities that vaccines are far safer than the disease they’re intended to prevent, which is known to elevate risks of developing a venous thromboembolism (VTE). “This population-based study found only a trivial risk for VTE following COVID-19 vaccination,” says Peter L. Elkin, MD, first author on the paper as well as professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Buffalo. “Given the large risk of VTE from COVID-19 infection, the risk-benefit ratio strongly favored vaccination,” Elkin says. That has been the general consensus among experts all along, and fortunately it has resonated in much of the...