Identity of Tasmanian AstraZeneca Covid vaccine victim revealed as well-known businessman Ian Reed

A well-known Hobart businessman has been identified as the Tasmanian who died from the AstraZeneca vaccine last year, collapsing while on an East Coast holiday with his family.

THE identity of a 44-year-old Tasmanian man who died after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine has been revealed as well-known Hobart businessman Ian Reed.

In his findings handed down on Friday, Coroner Simon Cooper said Ian William McDonald Reed died from an intracerebral haemorrhage – a stroke – on July 16 last year following his first dose of the Covid vaccine.

“Mr Reed had a four-day history of headache approximately two weeks after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccination,” Mr Cooper said.

“He collapsed suddenly whilst on holiday on Tasmania’s East Coast with his family on 13 July 2021.”

Mr Cooper said Mr Reed was taken to the Royal Hobart Hospital via a helicopter, with investigations showing he’d suffered “abnormal blood clotting” and signs consistent with a condition known as vaccine-induced prothrombotic immune thrombocytopenia (VIPIT).

Despite neurosurgical intervention, Mr Reed died three days later.

THE identity of a 44-year-old Tasmanian who died from rare complications associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine has been revealed as 44-year-old businessman Ian Reed.

“VIPIT is a rare but recognised complication of the AstraZeneca vaccination. It is in fact a complication of the immunological response to vaccination,” Mr Cooper said.

The coroner said he was satisfied that at the time of Mr Reed’s death, there was “sufficient information available” about the potential side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Last year, the Mercury reported the father-of-four was a well-known businessman who worked in commercial real estate and in the hospitality industry, having worked at Strahan Village, Diamond Island Resort, Blue Skies Restaurant and Knight Frank.

He farewelled at a packed funeral, with loved ones acknowledging him as a devoted husband and father as well as a generous soul known for his kindness, hard work, “bubbly personality” and business success.

It was widely reported during 2021 that the risk of death from the AstraZeneca vaccine was one in a million.

According to the federal government’s Therapeutic Goods Administration website, 11 people have died across Australia from AstraZeneca since the beginning of the vaccine rollout to January this year.

Eight of those were from thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, two were linked to Guillain-Barre Syndrome and one was a case of immune thrombocytopenia.

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Originally published as Identity of Tasmanian AstraZeneca Covid vaccine victim revealed as well-known businessman Ian Reed