COVID-19 is much more likely to cause blood clots than the vaccines to prevent it, according to a new study. University of Oxford researchers analyzed the medical records of 81 million patients. They compared the number of patients who developed cerebral venous thrombosis, or blood clots in the brain, among people who received their first vaccine dose within two weeks, people who were diagnosed with COVID-19, and the overall general population. The study, which has not yet been peer reviewed, shows that the risk of these blood clots was 8 to 10 times higher in the patients with a COVID-19 diagnosis than people who received the vaccine. More importantly, these blood clots were 100 times greater among COVID-19 patients than the general population. We still need to know more about the vaccines, especially the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in younger women. But this study does put the risk of the vaccines in perspective, and at least in my mind, suggests that it’s far more beneficial to receive the COVID-19 vaccine than not to.