At least 36 people have developed a rare and life-threatening blood disorder, called thrombocytopenia, after receiving either of the two COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the United States.
One of them, Miami obstetrician Dr. Gregory Michael, died after thrombocytopenia caused his platelets to drop to virtually zero. He was only 56 years old and died of a cerebral hemorrhage just 16 days after receiving Pfizer’s shot.
And doctors ordered Luz Legaspi, 72, not to go to bed for more than a week, for fear that a bump, bruises, falls or other minor injuries could cause a similar hemorrhage and be fatal.
Thrombocytopenia has also been seen after other vaccines and experts suspect the shot acts in some way as a trigger; they still don’t know why.
But so far, the platelet-suppressing condition seems extremely rare (it affects only 36 people in every 43 million doses given in the United States) and scientists theorize that only a small fraction of the population may have a predisposition that could cause vaccines. cause blood disorder.
Of the 15 people included in an upcoming study, only one had a recent history of low platelet counts and there were no clear common threads that predicted who might be the few to develop thrombocytopenia after vaccination.
But with the exception of Dr. Michael, everyone else so far has recovered after treatment.
Dr. Gregory Michael, 56, died of a cerebral hemorrhage from thrombocytopenia 16 days after receiving the COFID-19 vaccine from Pfizer (left). Luz Legaspi, 72, developed the rare blood disorder a day after her first shot of the Modern vaccine and had to go to bed completely to avoid a life-threatening bleeding (right)
The US is giving about 1.5 million COVID-19 vaccines a day and only 36 people have developed thrombocytopenia
The vast majority of people who have received vaccines against COVID-19 have done so without incident.
But between December 14 of the launch of the coronavirus vaccine in the United States and January 31, 36 reports were made to the Immune Thrombocytopenia (ITP) system of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC) after vaccinations, according to the New York Times.
The database records incidents observed by doctors and nurses after people are vaccinated, but does not determine whether or not the vaccines were the cause of the reported problems, known as “adverse events.”
No cases of thrombocytopenia were reported during the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine trials.
However, since they are authorizations, the cases have been related to each vaccine.
Pfizer told DailyMail.com that he is investigating the death of Dr. Michael, an obstetrician whose wife says he was in good health before his death in December.
“In my opinion, his death was 100% related to the vaccine. There is no other explanation,” he told DailyMail.com in an interview last month, battling tears.
Dr. Michael received his first dose of the Pfizer shot on December 18 and had no immediate reaction to the shot.
But three days later, he noticed red spots all over his body.
The spots that wrapped around his body were petechiae, warning signs of bleeding on the skin.
He went to Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami. During the examination, Dr. Michael remained optimistic and energetic.
But blood work showed that the number of platelets (fragments of disc-shaped cells that form clots to prevent uncontrolled bleeding) was nil, his wife said.
Anything less than 150,000 would qualify as thrombocytopenia, but Dr. Michael’s condition was serious.
Transfusions and other attempts to restore his platelets failed during his two weeks in the hospital, and eventually Dr. Michael died of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Luz Legaspi, 72, was healthy and vaccinated in January, when she received her first dose of Moderna.
But the next day, he woke up to find his legs and arms covered in petechiae and with bloody blisters in his mouth, according to the New York Times.
He was admitted to Elmhurst Hospital, Queens, New York City.
At that time, Legaspi’s number of platelets was zero and he was ordered not to leave the bed to avoid falling or injuring himself. Even a normally harmless bruise can cause bleeding when someone does not have platelets to stop the bleeding.
In adults, thrombocytopenia can be caused by bone marrow disease, some cancer treatments, and alcoholism.
But some forms are also the result of an autoimmune condition, in which the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys healthy platelets rather than legitimate and pathogenic threats. Thrombocytopenia sometimes arises after viral infections.
In these cases, platelet transfusions are usually treated with steroids and immunoglobulins, a treatment designed to prevent the spleen from destroying platelets, as is the case with thrombocytopenia.
Legaspi received these treatments, but is still not improving ten days after she was admitted to the hospital.
Michael’s wife, Heidi Neckelman (left), said her husband’s death was “due to a strong reaction” to the vaccine. In the photo: Dr. Michael with his wife Heidi and daughter
“I don’t think he understands it’s like a bomb,” said his daughter, who did not reveal her name at the request of her employer on the ninth day at Legaspi Hospital.
“I don’t use the term. I don’t want to tell you that.
Surprisingly, a leading expert on the rare condition caught the wind of Legaspi’s condition, stagnant and stagnant, and contacted his doctor in Elmhurst.
Dr. James Bussel, a pediatrician and expert on immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), which most often affects children, advised a change of direction, although the specific treatment he advised is unclear.
Two days later, the number of Legaspi platelets was more than 70,000 and he was able to return home the next day, February 2nd.
Dr. Bussel and his colleague, Dr. Eun-Ju Lee, studied 15 cases of thrombocytopenia that developed after people received vaccines against COVID-19.
His article is still being reviewed for publication in a medical journal.
But he told the Times that there may be some link not only to COVID-19 vaccines, but in general, vaccines don’t quite know exactly what.
“That it is done after a vaccine is well known and has been seen with many other vaccines. We don’t know why it happens,” Dr. Bussel said.
‘I think there might be an association.
“I guess there’s something that made people who developed thrombocytopenia susceptible, given the small percentage of receptors they are.”
Dr. Bussel, and even Luz Legaspi and her daughter, say people should still receive the COVID-19 vaccine, and for most, thrombocytopenia will not be a problem.
However, Dr. Bussel, his colleagues, and Pfizer and Moderna are trying to figure out who might have this life-threatening reaction, so they could advise these people against the vaccine, as Northern officials have done. -Americans for people with a history of anaphylactic reactions. to any ingredient in the plans.
