SA man confirmed with rare blood clot linked to AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccination

Professor Nicola Spurrier says SA’s first blood clot case linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine is “not unexpected”, and urges people to continue to get the jab.

A South Australian man has officially been confirmed with a dangerous blood clot linked to his AstraZeneca vaccine injection.

The man aged 53 is in a serious condition in intensive care in a private hospital and is slightly older than the under-50s age group believed to be at the main risk of developing the extremely rare clots.

It is the first such case in South Australia.

Chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier said the man was vaccinated on May 4, and went to hospital on May 18 suffering severe abdominal pain, noting clots “can occur from four days to 28 days after the vaccine”.

The link was confirmed Wednesday night. The man is being treated with infusions to try to get rid of antibodies triggered by the vaccine that caused the clots.

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Prof Spurrier stressed such occurrences were extremely rare with about one in 100,000 people getting it after the AstraZeneca vaccine, but with so many people being vaccinated such a case is “not unexpected”. There have been 250,026 vaccine doses in total given in SA.

Professor Nicola Spurrier speaks to the media about the blood-clot case. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

The 87-year-old South Australian woman who is a “probable” case fell ill on May 8 after her vaccine on April 28, and was admitted to hospital on May 11. She is in a stable condition.

Prof Spurrier moved to reassure the public that the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation is meeting weekly.

“They are looking at all the evidence, coming in from overseas as well as what is happening here in Australia,” she said.

She also urged people aged under 50 who are in eligible groups for the Pfizer jab to go to a clinic.

“We still have lots of bookings available for anybody who is less than 50 who fit into certain groups including allied health workers, we have availability in our clinics” she said.

SA recorded one new case of COVID on Thursday for a total of 747, a woman in her 30s in a medi-hotel.

A woman aged 87 who is also in hospital with blood clots is considered a “probable” case of the vaccine.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration on Thursday confirmed the case, saying that since its report last week there had been a further six reports of blood clots and low blood platelets which has been assessed as TTS and considered likely to be linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“Three are newly reported cases – one is a 57-year-old woman from Victoria, one in a 53-year-old man from South Australia and the final case in an 18-year-old woman in Queensland,” the TGA report states.

“Two other cases, in an 87-year-old woman from South Australia and a 71-year-old woman from Victoria were deemed probably related to the vaccine but more clinical information in required for any confirmation to be made.”

The 18-year-old was vaccinated prior to the April 8 recommendations regarding preference for people under 50 to have the Pfizer shot.

This takes the total Australian reports of cases assessed as TTS following the AstraZeneca vaccine to 24, while 2.1 million doses have been administered – 21 cases are confirmed and three considered probable.

The confirmed case and probable case are separate to Adelaide woman Robyn Adams, 61, who developed clots after the AstraZeneca vaccine but whose tests did not meet the criteria to make a formal link.

The federal Department of Health states: “There has been a link established between the AstraZeneca vaccine and a very rare but serious side effect called thrombosis in combination with thrombocytopenia.

“There is a very low chance of this side effect, which may occur in around 4-6 people in every million after being vaccinated.”