Scientists Decode Deadly Blood Clot Disorder Triggered by COVID Vaccines

New research has shown that the dangerous PF4 antibodies involved in vaccine-induced thrombosis (VITT) and similar disorders from common cold infections share identical molecular structures, highlighting implications for future vaccine development and disease management.

New research conducted by Flinders University and global specialists is deepening our knowledge of vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis (VITT). During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, VITT was recognized as a new condition linked to adenovirus vector-based vaccines, particularly the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

VITT was found to be caused by an unusually dangerous blood autoantibody directed against a protein termed platelet factor 4 (or PF4). In separate research in 2023, researchers from Canada, North America, Germany, and Italy described a virtually identical disorder with the same PF4 antibody that was fatal in some cases after natural adenovirus (common cold) infection.