Some Citizen Died After Being Injected, Austria Suspends The Use Of AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine

Vaccine illustration. (Sam Moqadam/Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Austrian Health Authority has suspended vaccination with the COVID-19 vaccine, as a precaution when investigating the death of one person and the illness of another after vaccination, said a report by the Federal Office for Safety in Health Care (BASG), Sunday 8 February.

"BASG has received two reports in connection with the vaccination of the same batch of AstraZeneca vaccine at the clinic in the Zwettl district, Lower Austria Province," BASG said.

BASG said a 49-year-old woman died from severe coagulation disorders. while a 35-year-old woman had a pulmonary embolism and was recovering. Pulmonary embolism is an acute lung disease caused by a loose blood clot.

"There is currently no evidence of a causal relationship with vaccination," said BASG.

The Austrian newspaper Niederoesterreichische Nachrichten, as well as broadcaster ORF and news agency APA, reported that the two women were nurses working at the Zwettl clinic.

BASG says blood clots are not one of the known side effects of the vaccine. It pursued its investigations with gusto, to completely rule out any possible link.

"As a precautionary measure, the remaining stocks of affected vaccine batches are no longer excluded or vaccinated," BASG added.

An AstraZeneca spokesperson said there were no confirmed serious adverse events related to the vaccine. In addition, all batches are subjected to strict quality control.

"Experiments and real-world experiences so far show that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective and has been approved for use in more than 50 countries," he said.

AstraZeneca also said it had been in contact with Austrian authorities and would fully support the investigation.

EU regulators in late January approved the product, saying that AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine was effective and safe to use. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) in mid-February registered the product for emergency use.

The adverse reactions seen in the trials were mostly short-lived, with no reported blood clotting problems.

Meanwhile, a safety assessment by the German vaccine regulator of more than 360,000 people who received the AstraZeneca vaccine from early February to 26 February concluded that the adverse reactions were in line with the safety profile described in clinical trials.