An award-winning BBC radio presenter died last week after suffering blood clots following vaccination with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 jab, her family has revealed.
The 44-year-old mother-of-one was treated in intensive care for blood clots and bleeding, but died on May 21 at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle.
“We are devastated and there is a Lisa-shaped hole in our lives that can never be filled,” her family said. “We will love and miss her always.”
Shaw previously worked in commercial radio and won a Sony Gold Award in 2012 for the breakfast show she hosted on Real Radio with co-host Gary Philipson.
Her cause of death is still under investigation, but a coroner issued an interim fact-of-death certificate which lists a “complication of AstraZeneca COVID-19 virus vaccination” as a consideration.
The UK’s medicines regulator, Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which approved the vaccine, expressed condolences.
“We are saddened to hear about the death of Lisa Shaw and our thoughts are with her family,” said an MHRA spokesperson.
“As with any serious suspected adverse reaction, reports with a fatal outcome are fully evaluated by the MHRA, including an assessment of post-mortem details if available.
“Our detailed and rigorous review into reports of blood clots occurring together with thrombocytopenia is ongoing.”
MHRA reported 332 cases of blood clots events with concurrent low platelet counts following the jab. These events occurred in 180 women and 151 men aged from 18 to 93 years.
There has been scrutiny of the AstraZeneca vaccine on the issue of blood clots, with a higher incidence in younger people.
But the British government has repeatedly stressed that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine continue to outweigh risks for most people.
According to MHRA estimates, by 19 May, 24.2 million people in the UK had received the first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, and 10.7 million had got their second doses.
