One of the doctors handling these cases was asked which vaccine should you take if you have a blood disorder. She said we really don't know but one thought is that immunes systems react to the proteins. The Pfizer and Moderna have one protein. The Astra Zeneca and the J&J have the one protein from the spike protein PLUS the proteins from the adenovirus. So your body has more things to potentially react to.
That is very interesting and it makes sense (especially for women who have a history of autoimmunity) that there is a greater chance of having a rare autoimmune reaction when there are TWO variables to potentially react to vs. just one!
Thank you for posting these links and they are extremely helpful! I'm going to quote a few things from your links in a new post right after this one (so it is easier to read and reply to).
This situation re: the autoimmune reaction to the AZ & J&J vaccines (causing blood clots & low platelets) has given me absolute 100% confirmation that if I ever did decide to get a COVID vaccine within my lifetime, it will NOT be AZ or J&J.
I had eleven different autoantibodies prior to starting the treatments that led to my remission. Any time that my immune system encountered something foreign (like a virus, mycotoxins, etc), it flipped into overdrive and started creating autoantibodies until the point that I was completely disabled. Now that there is irrefutable evidence that the AZ & J&J vaccines are causing this autoimmune attack on platelets (in women who did not even have a history of severe autoimmunity like me!) it confirms my choice.
I was not certain which type of COVID vaccine might be safer for women with autoimmunity (between the mRNA vaccines and adenovirus vector vaccines) and now it appears to be the mRNA vaccines are safer. I will still be declining the vaccine altogether but this info has been extremely helpful.
Edited to Add: I am going to ask my doctor to see if he shares my interpretation of this new info (re: the adenovirus vaccines being more dangerous than the mRNA vaccines in women with a history of severe autoimmunity).
"Dr. Marks of the FDA said the clots 'appear to be extremely rare' and occurred in tandem with a disorder involving low counts of platelets, the cell fragments in blood that form clots."
"He also said that the Astra Zeneca cases in Europe and the Johnson & Johnson cases in this country [US] were very, very similar."
My question to the FDA & CDC is should patients with pre-existing platelet disorders like ITP be alerted/screened before taking these vaccines?
I agree with your question and my personal feeling is that I would be extremely careful of the adenovirus vector vaccines if I had ITP. I would choose to avoid them.
I was going to get J&J but since I had platelet problems after a bad (likely adenovirus) infection, I think I'm going to go for Pfizer. I was hoping for 1 and done to lessen the risk and worry but I think I'll take my chances with the allergic response to PEG instead.
I thought that Moderna contained PEG but Pfizer did not. This is what I am remembering from my research but now I need to confirm it in case I am remembering wrong. I am actually (shockingly!) not allergic to PEG.