Risk of clotting due to Covid perhaps 100 times more than vaccine: Soumya Swaminathan

Amid growing fear over blood clotting being caused by Covishield, former WHO chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan has strongly supported the use of Covid-19 vaccine.

In a bid to dispel vaccine hesitancy, Swaminathan, while speaking to the Indian Express said that the risk of clotting due to Covid is many times, perhaps even a hundred times more than the clotting due to the vaccine.

She further said that the side effects occur within a few weeks of taking the vaccine and therefore, people who’ve taken the vaccine in 2021 or 2022 need not worry now.

"Nobody can deny that any drug or vaccine could have side effects. Even the polio vaccine has had side effects but that hasn’t stopped the polio eradication programme," Swaminathan was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.