Covid-19 Vaccine-Related Blood Clots Linked to Amino Acids in New Study

Canadian researchers say they have pinpointed a handful of amino acids targeted by key antibodies in the blood of some people who received AstraZeneca PLC’s Covid-19 vaccine, offering fresh clues to what causes rare blood clots associated with the shot.

The peer-reviewed findings, by a team of researchers from McMaster University in Ontario, were published online Wednesday by the science journal Nature. They could help doctors rapidly test for and treat the unusual clotting, arising from an immune-driven mix of coagulation and loss of platelets that stop bleeding.

The Canadian study analyzed blood samples from AstraZeneca vaccine recipients and builds on recent research done in Europe and elsewhere into the infrequent blood clots linked to the vaccine. Health officials are monitoring the rare side effects balanced with the vaccines’ proven value in fighting Covid-19. The blood clotting, which some scientists have named vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia, or VITT, has also been linked to Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 shot, though incidents have occurred less frequently with that shot than with AstraZeneca.

Though rare, the condition has proven deadly in more than 170 adults post-vaccination in the U.K., Europe and U.S., according to government tallies. Many were younger adults who appeared healthy before vaccination, researchers and drug regulators say.

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