Yes, but COVID-19 vaccines aren’t behind it.
You may have heard and read a considerable amount of news drawing a link between COVID-19 vaccines and various health problems. “Stop the clot shot!” memes have been plastered over social media for a while, for better or for worse, among many other lines of protest. Some parents are now hesitant to get kids vaccinated around issues of paused medical studies, youth heart problems, aching hip bones, and more. It all eventually swirls into a mass of pea soup COVID fog where coughing seems to cause multi-joint inflammatory arthritis and having a fever means you’re actually having a heart attack. How did it all get so confusing?
We can’t parse it all in one shot, (no pun intended), but we’ll focus on a few aspects here: COVID-19 vaccines, kids, the virus, and how they all interact.
Can children get blood clots?
Yes, children can get blood clots. But hold on. Let’s step back for a moment. It’s true that some adults have actually died from blood clots caused by a coronavirus vaccine in the vaccine rollout. Statistics do show, however, that your risk of developing a blood clot after being infected with COVID-19 is much greater than getting a clot following a coronavirus vaccine, so the reality is that we just live in a more dangerous world now, and you get to choose one risk over the other.
A study done in England found that there were 934 blood clots in 10 million people after a COVID-19 infection vs 107 blood clots caused by the AstraZeneca vaccine in the same number of people.
Furthermore, there were 1,699 extra stroke cases in 10 million people following infection, whereas there were just 143 extra stroke cases after a first Pfizer vaccine dose in the same amount of people.
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Reports of a child suffering from a blood clot following a COVID-19 vaccine are hard to find. In fact, there don’t seem to be any at all, although that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
Children can get blood clots, in general. Statistics show that, in pre-pandemic days, about 1 in 10,000 children developed deep vein thrombosis (DVT) (a blood clot) for a variety of reasons. Blood clots are more likely to occur in kids who are hospitalized, with about 1 in 200 children in hospital developing blood clots. Various causes are behind the events. Poor blood flow, damaged veins, reactions to drugs and toxins, inherited clotting conditions, illness, and birth control pills, rings and patches in teen girls are often to blame.
What does the coronavirus do to kids?
New data is showing that, while the vast majority of children who get COVID-19 have a mild or moderate case and recover rather quickly, some are having more serious problems. At the time of this writing, 862 children aged 0-18 have died from COVID-19 in the US during the pandemic. Being vaccinated is known to reduce your chances of being hospitalized with the novel coronavirus and dying from it.
New research is showing that some children who have caught COVID-19 are experiencing increased bleeding and clotting, particularly those with congenital heart disease.
According to the Mayo Clinic, new research is also showing that children under 18 are at an increased risk of developing type 1 or type 2 diabetes following a COVID-19 infection.
Some children have experienced multi-system inflammatory syndrome as a result of catching the coronavirus which can cause the major organs to become severely inflamed. This is dangerous and includes the brain, kidneys, blood vessels, lungs, heart, skin, digestive system, and eyes.
Simply put, yes, children can get blood clots but the COVID-19 vaccines don’t seem to be causing them in kids, yet the virus can cause many dangerous health problems, even if these are rare. It’s a good idea to get your child vaccinated.
Article Takeaways
- Blood clots have happened in adults who received a COVID-19 vaccine
- They haven’t been recorded in kids
- More adults develop blood clots and have a stroke after being infected with COVID-19 than after receiving a coronavirus vaccine
- Most kids recover well from COVID-19 but some die from it, or develop multi-system inflammatory syndrome, and increased bleeding and clotting
Get your family vaccinated against COVID-19 to help protect your health and stay safe.
photo credits: MattLphotography/Shutterstock.com
