Blood clots & covid shots: it’s not just a handful of cases—it’s hundreds--and the blood clot disorder TTS is brand-new

NOTE ON CHARTS: All charts, graphs and tables in this paper are my original work. All have a creative commons license and may be shared for educational purposes, as long as they are not altered, including the credit to virginiastoner.com.

NOTE ON VAERS: Never assume that reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) prove the vaccine caused the injury—they don’t. And, never assume the vaccine didn’t cause the injury, either—because that would be foolish. Notice how the CDC reminds us of the first thing all the time, but never the second? That’s because they want people to make that foolish assumption.

More deaths have been reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) from the COVID-19 shots than from all other vaccines combined for the last 31 years.

Death reports are through the roof, shown by the solid red line in the chart below (1). It’s not because of the number of vaccines administered—which, although somewhat higher than normal now, was well below the yearly average when the massive increase in death reports began in January 2021 (COVID-19 vaccination started in mid-December 2020).  

Vaccine injuries are underreported--especially deaths.

Depending on what percentage of adverse vaccine reactions are reported to VAERS--estimates range from 15% down to 1% or less-- the actual number of death reports should be much higher. While serious injuries are probably reported to VAERS more often than minor ones, there are reasons to believe reporting deaths to VAERS is probably the exception rather than the rule.

• First, a lot of people don’t know about VAERS. It’s mentioned in vaccine consent forms, but most people don’t read them carefully, and VAERS is rarely mentioned in the press. For those who know about VAERS, reporting is a cumbersome process with no tangible reward, so motivation to make reports can be lacking. 

• Second, there’s a special problem with reporting deaths to VAERS: The victims are dead, so obviously they can’t file a VAERS report, or urge their doctor to do it. Whether a report gets filed depends on whether the deceased has a family member, friend, or doctor who is aware of the vaccination, knows about VAERS, and is dedicated enough to go through the onerous process of filing a report.

• Third, the CDC tells us covid vaccine providers are “required to report” any deaths. What the CDC doesn’t tell us is the only deaths most vaccine providers will ever know about are the rare few that occur within the 15- to 30-minute monitoring period after the shot. Ordinarily, even an allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) is automatically compensated in the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) if it occurs up to 4 hours after the shot. No one from the drive-up clinic where you got your covid shot is going to be calling each week to see if you are still alive. Besides, there’s no penalty for not reporting to VAERS, so concern about compliance is presumably minimal.    

The official blood clot/covid shot narrative

Most people have no idea that thousands more deaths and serious injuries have been reported to VAERS from the covid shots than from any other vaccines in history—in fact, more than all other vaccines in history combined--because it’s never mentioned by the CDC, major media, government or industry.

But many people have heard about a blood clot issue with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, which was plastered all over the press and the CDC website, and involved just a handful of VAERS reports—or so we were told.

The numbers and details in the media reports (such as here, here, here and here) and on the CDC’s J&J web page were hazy, but apparently, somewhere between 15 and 28 cases of a condition called Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS) were identified. TTS means blood clots (thrombosis) with a low platelet count (thrombocytopenia)--an odd combination because platelets help blood to clot. Of those cases, 6-8 involved Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis (CVST), apparently a form of TTS. Somewhere between 1 and 3 people died.

In a much-publicized non-event, the CDC “paused” recommending the J&J COVID-19 vaccine on April 13th, then “lifted the pause” 10 days later, claiming the vaccine’s “known and potential benefits outweigh its known and potential risks.” As usual with CDC pronouncements of that sort, no details, nor even a vague description, of the actual risk/benefit analysis the CDC used, if any, was provided. But it’s a vaccine, at least in name--so you can be sure the sky’s the limit on those ‘potential’ benefits; while the ‘potential’ risks were virtually nonexistent.  

Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS) isn’t just ‘rare’ – it’s brand-new

TTS is a new syndrome reported in people who have received certain COVID-19 vaccines, according to several sources; for example:

• “TTS, also known as vaccine induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), is a rare newly identified condition with a different mechanism to other causes of thrombosis. Among case reports, there are no known markers for increased risk for TTS/VITT.” -- Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) and the Thrombosis and Haemostasis society of Australia and New Zealand (THANZ) (3).

• “Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), also known as Vaccine-induced prothrombotic immune thrombocytopenia (VIPIT) or vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), is a rare and newly identified syndrome which has been reported in people who have received adenoviral vector COVID-19 vaccines such as COVID-19 AstraZeneca and the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine. … TTS appears similar to an autoimmune condition known as heparin induced thrombocytopenia (HIT), where an immune reaction to the medication heparin impacts platelet function.” -- Melbourne Vaccine Education Centre (4).

I haven’t seen anything that conflicts with TTS being a new syndrome identified from adverse COVID-19 vaccine reactions. It would explain why TTS (or VITT, or VIPIT) is not listed as a searchable symptom in the VAERS database. There’s a condition called “Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura” (TTP) listed, but it’s apparently a different condition than TTS.   

Tom Shimabukuro of the CDC COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force, Vaccine Safety Team, named and described TTS in an April presentation (2). He didn’t say where the syndrome came from, but linked to an April 7 paper from the European Medicines Agency discussing the connection between blood clots, low blood platelets and covid shots. The condition wasn’t called TTS or anything else in the paper—supporting the idea that TTS is a newly-named condition caused by COVID-19 vaccination.

Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis (CVST), on the other hand, which is apparently a type of TTS, is not new and is listed in the VAERS database. Shimabukuro said they were concerned about 6 VAERS reports of CVST as of mid-April. As of June 20, there were 50 cases. If anyone is concerned, I haven’t heard about it.  

I don’t know how many of the other types of thrombosis and thrombocytopenia could potentially be related to the COVID-19 shots—no one knows. But, according to the Melbourne Vaccine Information Centre (4), TTS may present as other conditions listed in VAERS, such as Deep Vein Thrombosis; Thrombocytopenia; Cerebral Venous Thrombosis; and possibly others.

The historical context: VAERS reports of death, permanent disability and life-threatening events involving blood clots

Of the 4383 deaths reported as of June 6 this year from COVID-19 vaccines, 195 of them involved some kind of “thrombosis” or “thrombocytopenia” (NOTE: I should have included the term “thrombotic” in the VAERS search as well, so be aware the numbers are a little lower than they should be). Before the covid shots, there had never been more than 5 thrombosis-related deaths reported to VAERS in an entire year.  

Expanding the search to include death, permanent disability and life-threatening events involving “thrombosis” or “thrombocytopenia”, there were 1441 reports so far this year—up from an historical average of 15-16 per year for all other vaccines combined.

Here’s a monthly breakdown for the past few years. Reports of serious thrombosis-related injuries peaked in April with 716 reports.

CDC Magic

You might be wondering how, with an unprecedented 1441 serious adverse events and deaths involving thrombosis flooding into VAERS for the first time in history, the CDC was able to whittle down their blood clot concerns to just 28 cases. That’s easy: Magic. The CDC is the official Keeper of the Handbook of Magical Probability Formulas and Invisibility Spells (digital version—the original manuscript is located in a dark corner of the Vatican sub-basement). This ancient text confers powers on those who possess it to banish unwanted facts to the Realm of Irrelevance, and cast spells to conceal undesirable facts in plain sight—among other impressive illusions. Although technically public information, Handbook formulas and spells are kept carefully concealed unless a FOIA request pries them out of the CDC’s cold, clammy hands.  

That’s the non-fiction explanation.   

Now for a fictional dark comedy version of what went down at the CDC when the reports of serious blood clots started rolling into VAERS. Here, young public relations upstart, Ed, talks with Bob, the seasoned but somewhat slack Assistant Director of Post-Apocalyptic VAERS Perception Management, somewhere deep in the bowels of the CDC.

January 29, 2021:

ED:         Hey, Bob—VAERS got 31 reports of blood clots this month from covid shots. Should we be worried?

BOB:      I dunno, Ed—how many do we usually get?

ED:         Anywhere from 0 to 4. Last month we got 5.  

BOB:      Meh. COVID-19 is the largest vaccine campaign in history.

ED:         But not that many vaccines have been given so far…

BOB:      Whatever. Let’s see what happens.

 February 26, 2021:

ED:         77 blood clot reports this month, Bob—that’s just the serious ones. It’s never happened before…I’m sure it’s nothing, but maybe we ought to look into it.   

BOB:      Yeah, okay—go for it. I’ve got my hands full with this new kid-friendly anti-vaccine-hesitancy campaign.

 March 31, 2021:

BOB:      What’s with all these blood clot reports, Ed? VAERS got 178 of them this month—that’s more than twice as many as last month. I thought you had a handle on this thing.

ED:         No problem, Bob. All the reports have been investigated and analyzed and examined and have shown no signals.

BOB:      No signals of what?

ED:         No signals it’s something we want to discuss with the public.

BOB:      Gotcha. So, no write-up—something to let the public know there’s nothing to worry about? I bet it could get you a mention on CNN or FOX.  

ED:         Are you nuts? I’m not putting my name on something like that. Besides, most people don’t even know about it…the CDC likes to avoid confrontation wherever possible.  

 April 30, 2021:

BOB:      Gee-bus Key-Riced, Ed – VAERS got 716 thrombosis reports this month from the covid shots—that’s 4-times more than last month! I was counting on you to keep this thing under wraps. I’m already dealing with the worst vaccine hesitancy in history—I don’t need crap like this.

ED:         No worries, Bob—everything’s under control.  We found a new syndrome—a weird blood clot disorder called TTS. It’s caused by the covid shots. Of course, no one really needs to know that, so we just call it “rare” instead of “new.”

By focusing only on TTS, we were able to whittle down the number of cases from 1441 to 28, max. Then we singled out the vaccine that was the worst offender—the Johnson & Johnson shot--“paused” it, then “lifted the pause” after a careful 10-day analysis of how great it really is. *wink*

BOB:      No concerns about the other 1413 blood clot cases?

ED:         Nah…that’s just boring stuff people have been dying from for years.

It’s all about choosing the right comparison group, Bob. If we compare current VAERS reports to historical ones—then of course the COVID-19 vaccines are going to look like the most dangerous vaccines in history.

But if we compare current VAERS reports to deaths in the rest of the population instead, we’re looking pretty good--especially considering a lot of vaccine injuries are never even reported.  We just can’t tell people we’re doing that, because some are bound to recognize the con.   

People die of stuff like blood clots all the time—it just coincidentally coincided with vaccination in almost every case reported to VAERS. Rest assured, all the reports have been investigated and analyzed and examined and have shown no signals.

BOB:      That’s a relief—whatever it means.

ED:         The whole episode really showed the public that our systems to monitor vaccine safety are working, and how committed we are to transparency and safety. It’s all right here on the CDC website now, thanks to me. Cheeky emoji emphasis added by the author.

May 31, 2021:

BOB:      I see reports of serious blood clots are down, Ed—only 417 this month.

ED:         Blood clots? That’s old news, Bob. We’re big into Wuhan and scary variants right now. Plus, those J&J shots just aren’t selling anymore, and we need to find some alternative markets to recoup losses—maybe the inner cities, or Africa…

BOB:      But if anyone happens to ask…

ED:         Simple, Bob—just remember, all the reports have been investigated and analyzed and examined, and have shown no signals. Now you try it.

BOB:      All the reports have been investigated and analyzed and examined by our team of experts, and have shown no signals.

ED:         Nice touch with the “team of experts” thing, Bob—you’re a natural. But don’t get carried away with the ad libs.

NOTES:

(1)    Notes on the data sources for the chart “Vaccines Administered and Deaths Reported to VAERS”:

a.       DEATH REPORT DATA: Death report data is from the VAERS database as of June 6, 2021.

i.      There were a lot of “unknown age” VAERS death reports. For estimation purposes, 1/3 of the unknown age reports were added to each of the 3 age groups.

b.       POPULATION DATA: US Census Bureau data was used for the years 2014-2020. For 2021, the 2020 population estimates were used.

i.      2014: https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=census%20age%202014-2020&tid=ACSST1Y2014.S0101

ii.      2015: https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=population%20by%20age%202015&tid=ACSST1Y2015.S0101

iii.      2016: https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=age%20%26%20sex%202016&tid=ACSST1Y2016.S0101

iv.      2017: https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=age%20%26%20sex%202017&tid=ACSST1Y2017.S0101

v.      2018: https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=age%20%26%20sex%202018&tid=ACSST1Y2018.S0101

vi.      2019: https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=age%20%26%20sex%202020&tid=ACSST1Y2019.S0101

vii.      2020: https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2020/demo/popest/2020-demographic-analysis-tables.html

viii.      Age data was consolidated into 3 uniform groups of Age 0-17, Age 18-64 & Age 65+. The Census Bureau uses a 0-19 age range, and no adjustments were made for that.

c.       VACCINE DATA – COVID-19: I estimated 5% of the total vaccines administered in each age group were given in 2020, and 95% were given in 2021. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-demographic

d.       VACCINE DATA—OTHER (NON-COVID-19) VACCINES:

i.      The CDC's estimated rate of flu vaccination for 2010-2020 was used to estimate the rate of all vaccinations. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/fluvaxview/coverage-1920estimates.htm

ii.      % vaccinated in each age group for flu was used to estimate the rate of vaccination per the CDC's vaccine schedule.

iii.      Minimum recommended vaccines for each age group were divided among the years in the age group to estimate yearly vaccine consumption:

1.       Age 0-17: 18 flu shots + 35 other shots = 53 / 18 = 2.94 per year.

2.       Age 18-64: 47 flu shots + 12 more recommended for everyone (18 more for some) = 47 + 12 = 59 / 47 = 1.26 per year.

3.       Age 65+: Est. age at death=79; 15 flu shots + 5 more recommended for all (18 more recommended for some) = 15 + 5 = 20 / 15 = 1.33 per year.

iv.      CDC’s child and adolescent vaccine schedule: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/hcp/imz/child-adolescent.html

v.      CDC’s adult vaccine schedule: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/hcp/imz/adult.html

(2)    Update: Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) following COVID-19 vaccination, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), May 12, 2021, Tom Shimabukuro, MD, MPH, MBACDC COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force Vaccine Safety Team. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/meetings/downloads/slides-2021-05-12/07-COVID-Shimabukuro-508.pdf

(3)    A joint statement from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) and the Thrombosis and Haemostasis society of Australia and New Zealand (THANZ) on Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS) and the use of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca Date published: 23 May 2021. https://www.health.gov.au/news/joint-statement-from-atagi-and-thanz-on-thrombosis-with-thrombocytopenia-syndrome-tts-and-the-use-of-covid-19-vaccine-astrazeneca

(4)    Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia, Melbourne Vaccine Education Centre, Authors: Daryl Cheng (Paediatricican, Royal Children’s Hospital), Francesca Machingaifa (MVEC Education Nurse Coordinator), Davina Buntsma (MVEC Immunisation Fellow) and Rachael McGuire (MVEC Education Nurse Coordinator). Date: 17 June 2021. https://mvec.mcri.edu.au/references/thrombosis-with-thrombocytopenia-syndrome/