South Korea Reports First Death Of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 Vaccine Recipient

Vaccine AstraZeneca. (Wikimedia Commons / gencat)

JAKARTA - A patient who was treated for a rare case of blood clots, after receiving AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, died on Wednesday, June 16, according to South Korean health authorities.

The South Korean Agency for Disease Control and Prevention (KDCA) announced that a confirmed case as the first death due to blood clots after receiving AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine occurred here at around 14:10 p.m. local time.

The male patient in his 30s was confirmed to have a very rare but serious side effect, called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), after the vaccine on May 27.

TTS is a very rare side effect, where a person experiences blood clots followed by a decrease in platelet count, after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

"The patient showed symptoms of severe headache and nausea nine days after receiving the vaccine injection. He was then hospitalized and diagnosed with the syndrome on Tuesday", KDCA said, as reported by South Korea's Yonhap News Agency Thursday, June 17.

KDCA further explained that it plans to review the case together with experts. This includes examining the patient's side effects and medical progress towards death, in order to make the necessary improvements based on the epidemiological investigation.

Previously, the launch of the COVID-19 vaccine, a joint blend by the British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, was temporarily suspended some time ago, following reports of blood clots in vaccine recipients in several European countries.

However, authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO) advise that vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine be continued, saying the vaccine may be associated with blood clots in some very rare cases, but that the benefits outweigh the risks of possible side effects.