Health Canada recommends people with rare blood conditions not get the AstraZeneca vaccine

Manjil Das, INN/Chennai
Twitter-@SGiggle29 @Infodeaofficial

“Health Canada is updating the product monograph-or label-for the AstraZeneca and Covishield COVID-19 vaccines to include capillary leak syndrome as a potential side effect, with a warning for patients with a history of capillary leak syndrome not to get the AstraZeneca or Covishield COVID-19 vaccine,” the agency said in a statement.

Capillary leak syndrome (CLS) is a rare but deadly disorder in which small blood arteries (capillaries) leak fluid, causing limb oedema, low blood pressure, blood thickening, and low levels of a key blood protein.

The European Medicines Agency raised this issue as a potential safety risk in April, and Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada have been monitoring it since then, according to the statement. According to Health Canada, one episode of capillary leak syndrome after vaccination with AstraZeneca’s vaccine was documented in Canada till June 11.

“Vaccines are biological products, thus this is the case. Because even minor discrepancies in manufacturing conditions might cause variances in the end product, EU law mandates that the manufacturing sites and production process be evaluated and authorised as part of the authorisation procedure.”

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency in the United Kingdom has previously stated that it is evaluating precautionary advice for persons with a history of CLS, but that it does not believe there is a causative link between the vaccine and the disease.