MONTREAL — The risk of developing serious blood clots from the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is similar to the chances of being struck by lightning, the chief physician at the McGill University Health Centre said Wednesday.
Dr. Marc Rodger offered the comparison following Tuesday's news that a 54-year-old Quebec woman died April 23 from a blood clot that developed after she got the vaccine.
Rodger said the death of Francine Boyer is "absolutely tragic," but the risk of COVID-19 for people who aren't vaccinated is exponentially higher than for those who are.
"The risk seems to be in the one-in-100,000 range," he said in an interview, about blood clots. "To put that in context, that's similar risk to being struck by lightning at some point in your lifetime."