Photographer: SeongJoon Cho / Bloomberg
Photographer: SeongJoon Cho / Bloomberg
The death of a 48-year-old woman in New South Wales was “probably related” to the AstraZeneca vaccine, although the case was “complicated” by the underlying conditions, Australian health officials said on Saturday.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt expressed his condolences to the woman’s family, whose death is the third in Australia due to blood clots associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine. He received the inoculation ahead of the government’s April 8 announcement that the Pfizer dose was preferred for people under 50.
“Vaccines are extremely safe, recommended and effective,” Hunt told a news conference Saturday, adding that they are still being reviewed continuously by the vaccination working group.
The risk balance still clearly favors vaccinations, as the deceased was “a rather atypical case and this issue is being further examined,” Professor John Skerritt of the Therapeutic Goods Administration told the conference. The prevalence of AstraZeneca vaccine-related complications in Australia is about one in 300,000, similar to that in the UK, he said.
The government faces continued criticism for delays in its vaccine deployment strategy, which depends heavily on AstraZeneca’s firing. Prime Minister Scott Morrison this week he refused to set a new target date for all Australians to receive their first blows, as the year-end deadline seems out of reach. The latest count shows more than 1.4 million people vaccinated, including more than 885,000 with AstraZeneca, according to the health minister.
Hunt said there will be a “boost in the last quarter of the year” to inoculate as many people as possible with the available doses of Pfizer “for those who are not old enough to take AstraZeneca.” .
AstraZeneca’s vaccine drama runs the risk of prolonging the pandemic
On the issue of repatriating Australians abroad, Hunt said: “Our aim is very clear: to bring home so many Australians as soon as possible.” The reopening of the quarantine in Victoria state should help the process, he said.
According to a report published in The Guardian Australia, the UN human rights committee has called on the government to “facilitate and ensure” the speedy return of two stranded nationals to the United States.
Meanwhile, authorities are investigating a possible transmission of the virus between seven recently returned travelers in two separate family groups in quarantine at the Adina Hotel in Sydney’s central business district, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
(Updates with details on fatalities in the second paragraph.)