Catching Covid is EIGHT times more likely to trigger rare blood clot than having Oxford/AstraZeneca jab

CATCHING Covid-19 is eight times more likely to trigger a rare blood clot than having the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab, scientists found.

Researchers at Oxford University found 39 in a million Covid patients suffered CVT — a brain blood clot — while it affected just five in a million people who were given the home-grown vaccine.

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Coronavirus also causes other types of serious blood clots including strokes and PVT, which affects the liver.

Study leader Professor Paul Harrison said: “All the evidence we have is that the risks of Covid are so much greater than whatever the risks of the vaccine might be.

“Covid is a really horrible illness which has a whole variety of effects, including a markedly increased risk of CVT.

“The Covid-19 risk is higher than we see with the vaccines.

“This is something that should be taken into account when considering risks and benefits for vaccination.”

The researchers who did the study are not linked to the team at Oxford which developed the vaccine.

The study also pointed out the risk of CVT is just over four in a million in people who have an mRNA vaccine like the Pfizer one — just lower than the Oxford jab.

The news came as Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, 50, got her first dose of the Oxford jab yesterday.

She said: “I felt quite emotional because it’s so important this vaccination programme in helping us all get back to normal.”

Some 32.4million Brits have had their first dose of a vaccine and 8.6million have had a second.

• GERMAN leader Angela Merkel, 66, will today have the AstraZeneca jab in a bid to rebuild Europeans’ confidence in it.