Seven people who had received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine have died after registering rare blood clot events, the UK’s medicines regulator has confirmed.
“Out of the 30 reports up to and including March 24, sadly seven have died,” MHRA said in a statement emailed to The Epoch Times.
“The benefits of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca in preventing COVID-19 infection and its complications continue to outweigh any risks and the public should continue to get their vaccine when invited to do so,” said Dr. June Raine, chief executive of MHRA.
In its most recent weekly summary of COVID-19 vaccine adverse reactions, MHRA said it had received 22 reports of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, an extremely rare brain clotting ailment, and eight reports of other clotting events associated with low blood platelets, out of a total of 18.1 million doses given by that date.
The regulator said there had been no reports for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
“We are asking healthcare professionals to report any cases they suspect to be linked with COVID-19 vaccination via the Coronavirus Yellow Card website,” Dr. Raine said.
The EU regulator, which is conducting a review into the blood clot events, said on March 31 that a causal link between the vaccine the blood clots was “not proven, but is possible and further analysis is continuing.”
“At present the review has not identified any specific risk factors, such as age, gender or a previous medical history of clotting disorders, for these very rare events,” it said.
Concerns over the blood clots have caused several countries to restrict the vaccine’s use.
France also said in mid-March it decided to limit the vaccine to people for those aged 55 and older.
