Australia records first death from blood clots likely linked to AstraZeneca vaccine

SYDNEY: Australia’s drugs regulator has determined the death of a 48-year-old diabetic woman who developed blood clots after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine was likely to be linked to the jab, foreign media reported.

Following a meeting of Australia’s Vaccine Safety Investigation Group on Friday, the Therapeutic Goods Administration said experts had concluded the case of the New South Wales woman, who died this week, “was consistent with causal association to immunisation”.

“In the absence of an alternative cause for the clinical syndrome, VSIG believed that a causative link to vaccination should be assumed at this time,” the TGA said in a statement. The case is the third instance of the rare blood clotting disease linked to the vaccine in Australia but the first death. In its statement, the TGA said the case had been “complicated by the patient’s underlying medical conditions, including diabetes, some other medical conditions as well as some atypical features”.

“In relation to this case, VSIG agreed that the case was consistent with causal association to immunisation although for this patient, anti-PF4 antibodies were absent,” the TGA said. Anti-PF4 antibodies which activate platelets have been found in almost all other cases reported internationally of blood clots with thrombocytopenia associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The TGA said despite the atypical clinical features and the negative antibody test a causative link to vaccination should be assumed. Authorities said the woman had received the AstraZeneca vaccine on 8 April, prior to the government’s announcement that the Pfizer vaccine was preferred for patients under 50 years old. She was admitted to hospital four days later and, according to local media reports, died on Wednesday.

Authorities, including the prime minister, Scott Morrison, had earlier on Friday called for people not to jump to conclusions about the case, stressing that clotting events associated with the vaccine remained extremely rare and that the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risks.