Prevalence, Knowledge, And Risks Of Vaccine-Induced Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia Development In Persons Vaccinated Against Covid-19 In Yaounde-Cameroon

Since the initial report from China, the coronavirus disease has spread rapidly, and the number of cases increased exponentially with the pandemic affecting every part of the world, causing major morbidity and mortality. Luckily, several vaccines against COVID-19 are approved internationally, but vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) is reported after the AZ and J&J vaccines, which are based on replication-incompetent adenoviral vectors. WHO has it that the incidence of VITT is not certain, so the need to create awareness and evaluate those at risk of developing adverse side effects is necessary. The main aim of this study was to determine the prevalence, knowledge, and risks of VITT development in persons vaccinated against COVID-19 in Yaoundé-Cameroon. We used a community-based cross-sectional study and targeted individuals that had received the first dose of the AZ or the J&J vaccine in the Biyem-Assi health district. Within v their anthropometric measurements. Blood samples were collected 4-28days post-vaccination and taken to the laboratory for analysis and we analyzed our data using SPSS. Of the 122 individuals enrolled, a majority were female, most of the participants had received the J&J Janssen vaccine and had never heard about VITT before while a good number did not receive any pre-counselling before taking the vaccine. Most of the participants had a normal thrombocyte, a normal clotting time, and a normal D-dimer value.
The prevalence of VITT in Astra-Zeneca and J&J Janssen vaccinated individuals was low but the participants in the study didn’t have any satisfactory knowledge regarding the coronavirus vaccine and VITT and in addition, they had received little or no pre-counselling before being administered their vaccine. Also, we found that Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure influenced the development of VITT in vaccinated individuals.