As the world wrestles with the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s clear that much depends on our ability to vaccinate a large proportion of the population.

Like all medications, vaccines have their side effects, and the most notable at present is an unusual syndrome of intravascular clotting associated with thrombocytopaenia.

Dr Tim Brighton is a consultant haematologist with New South Wales Health, and a participant in a recent working party that developed guidelines for the detection and management of this important condition, known as Vaccine Induced Thrombotic Thrombocytopaenia, or VITT.