Tasmanian man in his 40s dies after AstraZeneca vaccine

A 44-year-old Tasmanian man has died after receiving his first dose of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, becoming the youngest person in Australia to die from the serious blood clotting side effect. ROLLING COVERAGE >>

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A 44-year-old Tasmanian man has died after receiving the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in a state-run clinic, Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff has confirmed.

Mr Rockliff said the man died at the weekend from rare complications associated with the vaccine.

He said the death was made public on Thursday as part of the weekly statistics on adverse events produced by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

“This report included confirmation that a Tasmanian man in his 40s has passed away following a first vaccination with the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine,” he said.

“I can confirm the man died last weekend in hospital, where he had been receiving treatment.

“On behalf of the Tasmanian government, and personally, I extend my deepest sympathies for the man’s family and friends.

LIVE UPDATE | Thursday, 22 July 2021

LIVE UPDATE | Thursday, 22 July 2021

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“His family has asked for privacy on this matter and out of deepest respect for them it’s not appropriate to provide information that may identify the man.”

Mr Rockliff said the cause of death would be a matter for the coroner and said the government would review the information provided to people receiving vaccines in the wake of the man’s death.

The man died from a rare complication associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, Department of Health Secretary Katherine Morgan-Wicks said.

“The man is a confirmed case of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome or TTS following vaccination in a Tasmanian state vaccination clinic,” she said.

“The determination of a cause of death is a matter for the coroner.

The TGA’s Covid-19 vaccine weekly safety report said two people had died from the same vaccine-related cause.

In this file photo taken on January 10, 2021, a man receives a dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. (Photo by Kena Betancur / AFP)

“Sadly this week, we were notified that two confirmed cases of TTS after the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine were fatal,” the report states.

“One was in a 44-year-old man from Tasmania and the other was in a 48-year-old woman from Victoria (this case was reported as probable TTS in last week’s report).

When asked about the latest deaths, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said people were provided with information as part of consenting to be vaccinated.

“We encourage people to make those decisions, we make as much information available to them as possible,” he said.

“With any vaccine, there is there are risks associated and I won’t go too, into each of the individual ones, because I don’t want to particularly draw attention to any one but we all understand that with any vaccine there are risk factors and they’re enumerated and they’re made available to people and people make decisions about that.”

Since the beginning of the vaccine rollout in Australia, a total of five deaths from TTS have been reported out of 6.1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. All of them were related to a first dose of the vaccine.

Ms Morgan-Wicks said that for most patients, the risks of Covid-19 far outweighed the risks posed by the vaccine.

She said all patients were given comprehensive information about possible side effects.

The most common — which are mild and resolve within a few days — are headache, muscle pain, fever, chills, nausea and injection site reactions.

But more serious side effects involve immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), a rare bleeding disorder; or TTS — both of which can prove fatal.

Director of Public Health Mark Veitch said the rate of complications from vaccines was comparable in Tasmania to elsewhere.

Tasmanian Health Minister Jeremy Rockliff. Picture Chris Kidd

He said the information provided to people receiving the vaccine would be reviewed in the wake of the man’s death.

“I cannot comment on the particular circumstances around this patient,” he said.

“The department will have its own process of looking into it.

“The other thing that’s very important to know is that this case will be considered by the coroner and we will of course, as department participate cooperatively with coroner so that all those matters are considered.”

Read more about this story here.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR:

The most common reactions recently reported for the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine are headache, fever, muscle pain, fatigue and chills.

The most common reactions reported for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine are headache, muscle pain, fatigue, dizziness and nausea.

More serious complications include:

Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS)

People should seek immediate medical attention if they develop any of the following symptoms after vaccination: severe or persistent headache, blurred vision, confusion or seizures shortness of breath, chest pain, leg swelling or persistent abdominal pain

unusual skin bruising and/or pinpoint round spots beyond the site of vaccination.

The most common time period for onset of TTS symptoms is 4–30 days after vaccination.

Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP)

People should seek medical attention if they experience signs and symptoms that could suggest ITP, such as unusual skin bruising or clusters of small red or purple spots that do not lose their colour when pressed.

Unusual bleeding is another sign, for example bleeding from the nose or mouth that is hard to stop, or blood in the urine or stools.

Source/further information : Theraputic Goods Administration.

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