Australia reports first blood clot death “likely” linked to AstraZeneca vaccine

Australia reported on Friday its first blood clot mortality in a recipient of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 (AZN.L) trait, and its regulator said there was a likely link between the woman’s death of 48 years and the vaccine.

His was the third case of the rare blood clots to appear in people who have been given the vaccine in Australia. The other two are recovering well, the Therapeutic Property Administration (TGA) added.

He said he was “carefully reviewing” similar cases in Australia.

The New South Wales woman received the AstraZeneca vaccine on April 8, the day the government announced that the Pfizer (PFE.N) vaccine would be given as a preference to patients under 50, delaying the your inoculation schedule. Read more

In the absence of an alternative cause for the clot it developed, Australia’s vaccine safety research group (VSIG) “believed that a causal link with vaccination should be assumed at this time.” , said the TGA.

The VSIG had held a meeting Friday afternoon following news of the woman’s death.

The TGA said his case had been complicated by underlying medical conditions, including diabetes, “as well as some atypical features.”

To date, there have been at least 885,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines administered in Australia, which equates to a frequency of blood clot instances in every 295,000 cases, according to the TGA.

“The overall number … so far has not exceeded the expected background rate for the most common type of blood clots,” he said.

The UK regulator, the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency, has concluded from its review of cases reported in the UK that the overall risk of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (a rare blood clot in the brain) it was about 1 in 250,000 who received the vaccine. .

Australia has reported more than 22,000 community-transmitted COVID-19 cases and 909 deaths. Read more

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