Austria suspends AstraZeneca vaccine batch after death
Austrian authorities have suspended inoculations with a batch of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine as a precaution while investigating the death of one person and the illness of another after the shots
The National Office for Health System Safety (BASG) said the decision had been taken as a precaution.
It said; “no evidence of a causal link between the jab and the woman’s death.
”The 49-year-old nurse died two days after having the jab from “severe blood coagulation problems” and another woman who received a jab from the same batch developed a pulmonary embolism, but is now recovering.”
Both women received the vaccination at a hospital in the town of Zwettl, west of the capital Vienna.
An autopsy is being carried out at Vienna’s AKH hospital on the woman who died, with the results expected in the coming weeks.
“Based on the known clinical data, a causal relationship cannot be established, as thrombotic events are not one of the typical side effects of the vaccination.
“The necessary investigation is currently underway… to definitively rule out any possible link,” the BASG statement said.
Regional prosecutors confirmed that no judicial steps would be taken against the hospital as no anomalies in the delivery, storage or administration of the vaccine had been reported.
Since inoculation campaigns began in earnest, isolated cases have been reported in some countries of people dying shortly after receiving a vaccine.
AFP/ Mercy Chukwudiebere
