NICE to develop guideline for rare blood clots associated with COVID-19 vaccination

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) will develop a guideline on the management and treatment of rare blood clots and low platelet counts associated with COVID-19 vaccination.

Rare cases of vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis (VITT) and low blood platelet counts have been reported after receiving COVID-19 vaccines.

Although only 14.2 cases of this rare condition occur per million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, NHS England has asked NICE to produce guidance as it can be very serious and requires ‘swift diagnosis and sometimes urgent treatment’.

The guidelines will aim to combine the best knowledge to help support clinicians in their diagnosis and treatment of individuals with this condition.

Currently, there is no national guidance for identifying and managing VITT, however the British Society for Haematology has previously published guidance by the UK Expert Haematology Panel regarding this condition.

NICE said in a statement that it is currently collaborating with an expert panel to review the evidence for identifying and managing VITT.

“This is an important guideline to help clinicians swiftly identify the small number of people who develop VITT after having a COVID-19 vaccine, and to support them in treating these patients effectively,” said Paul Chrisp, director of the Centre for Guidelines at NICE.

To be clear, this guideline is not looking at the safety of COVID-19 vaccines; that is not NICE’s remit and the data from MHRA overwhelmingly shows the vaccines are safe. NICE’s role here is to provide the best advice to help clinicians treat patients in the rare instances where they do develop VITT.”