A 32-year-old psychologist in Britain developed blood clots and died 10 days after taking his first dose of AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine, a London coroner’s report found on Wednesday, in a very rare case of a fatal reaction on the vaccine.
The inquest, requested by Charlotte Wright, the widow of Dr. Stephen Wright, it turned out that he died on January 26, 2021 due to “unintended consequences of vaccination”. Ms. Wright is suing AstraZeneca.
According to the report, Dr. Wright of Kent, England, had a stroke and bleeding in the brain, as well as vaccine-induced thrombosis, or blood clots, and thrombocytopenia, a condition that occurs when the level of platelets in the blood is too high. abnormally low.
As of 2021, researchers have cited rare cases where people have developed the blood clotting syndrome known as TTS after receiving the Johnson & Johnson or AstraZeneca Covid vaccines, which are similar. The cases usually occur within weeks of vaccination.
Experts still strongly recommend vaccination, saying that while vaccines come with certain rare side effects, those risks are overshadowed by the risks of the coronavirus itself.
“It’s really quite rare and ultimately you have to weigh the risks versus the benefits in everything you do,” said Daniel Salmon, director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “And when you look at the vaccines, they are very safe and very effective.”
He added: “Nothing is without risk. And if you choose not to get the vaccine, you run a greater risk of getting the disease and serious consequences.”
Researchers estimate that coronavirus vaccines have saved millions of lives, including an estimated 507,000 in the UK in the first year they were administered.
Dr. Beverley Hunt, a thrombosis expert in London, said blood clotting syndrome was a “very rare occurrence” after using the AstraZeneca vaccine, estimated to affect one in 50,000 people under 40 and one in 100,000 over 40.
Dr. Adam Finn, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Bristol, said very approximate figures suggest around 50 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been given in the UK, with around 200 cases and 40 deaths linked to the blood-clotting syndrome.
Britain restricted the use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine for people under 30 in April 2021, citing the risk of rare blood clots.
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration restricted the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in May 2022 to adults who cannot or refuse the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, also citing the risk of rare blood clots.
AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine is not approved for use in the United States, and last year the company withdrew its application for FDA approval.
In Australia, the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care described TTS as a rare syndrome occurring in about two to three people out of 100,000 who received the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Symptoms — including severe, persistent headaches and blurred vision — usually appear between four and 42 days after an initial dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the department said.
Australia stopped using AstraZeneca’s vaccine last month, saying newer vaccines better target current strains of the virus.
In an analysis of immunization and death records published in Britain last month, researchers found that young women who received at least one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine were more likely to die from a heart problem in the 12 weeks following their vaccination. .
The researchers found no significantly increased risk of death in any other subgroup or with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which was also widely used in Britain. And the study did not prove that the vaccines caused the deaths.
Andrew Harris, a senior coroner who reported on Wednesday the results of Dr. Wright presented to the London Inner South Coroner’s Court, described the death of Dr. Wright as a “very unusual and profoundly tragic case,” the BBC reported.
The investigation revealed that Dr. Wright was a “fit and healthy man” who received his first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Jan. 16, 2021. He awoke with a headache on Jan. 25, 2021, and later developed numbness in the left arm, the inquest found.
He went to the hospital emergency room just after midnight and was found to have high blood pressure and sagittal sinus venous thrombosis. He was transferred to another hospital at about 6:30 a.m. but was unfit for surgery due to bleeding and a very low platelet count. He died at 6:33 p.m
Ms Wright said in a post on Instagram that she had asked for the inquest so she could amend her husband’s death certificate, which said he had died of “natural causes”, including a stroke. She said she wanted vaccine-induced bleeding syndrome listed as his cause of death.
“The inquest confirmed this change yesterday, more than 2 years later,” Ms Wright said.
Ms Wright also said the judicial inquiry “allows us to continue our litigation against AstraZeneca. This is the written evidence,” the BBC reported.
Mr Harris told the court it was “very important to record that it is the AstraZeneca vaccine – but that is different from blaming AstraZeneca,” the BBC reported.
Ms Wright, who described herself as a “vaccine widow”, indicated she was not against vaccines in general. “I think they should be given with proper informed consent,” she said.
AstraZeneca, which has named its vaccine Vaxzevria, said in a statement: “We are deeply saddened by the death of Stephen Wright and extend our deepest condolences to his family for their loss.” The statement states that patient safety is the company’s highest priority.
“The body of evidence in clinical trials and real world data has continuously shown that Vaxzevria has an acceptable safety profile and regulators around the world consistently state that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of extremely rare possible side effects,” the statement said. .
Derrick Bryson Taylor reporting contributed.