WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) – According to a new study, elderly individuals who receive both the COVID booster and the flu shot during the same visit may be at higher risk of stroke due to blood clots in the brain.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) financed study found that older patients who had both doses in the same visit last year had a 20–35% greater risk of stroke
According to the study, there were about three strokes for every 100,000 doses given, and the higher stroke risk may be caused mostly by the flu shot rather than the COVID booster.
The study looked at Medicare claims from almost 5.3 million people aged 65 and older who got a bivalent Pfizer or Moderna COVID vaccine.
Blood clots in the brain were more likely to occur in those 65 years of age or older who received both a high-dose flu shot and the bivalent vaccine at the same time. The high-dose flu vaccination is limited to individuals 65 years of age and older.
The Pfizer vaccine recipients who were 85 years of age or older also had an increased risk of stroke due to blood clots, even in the absence of concurrent flu vaccination, the study discovered.
Additionally, the study discovered a very small increase in stroke risk—roughly one to two strokes per 100,000 doses—for individuals 65 and older who had only gotten a high-dose flu shot.
The Food and Drug Administration told ABC, “The review conducted in this preprint paper is part of our ongoing safety surveillance efforts, which utilize a variety of data sources.” The FDA also stated that they are still confident in the COVID-19 shots and that the study is only observational at this time and not yet subjected to peer review.
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