The Therapeutic Goods Administration has joined NSW Health in investigating the 48-year-old diabetic woman’s death, to determine whether it has any connection to the vaccine.
The TGA said it had not yet been established whether there was any link between the jab she received and the woman’s death.
“The TGA is seeking further clinical information including clinical test results from the New South Wales Health Department,” it said, in a statement.
On Thursday, the federal government said it no longer recommended people under 50 get AstraZeneca vaccines.
“The blood clotting disorders being investigated in connection with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine are very rare and differ from common blood clots or venous thromboembolism, which occur in around 50 Australians every day,” the TGA said.
“The clotting disorder being investigated in connection with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, which is now referred to as ‘thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome’ (TTS), has been confirmed in only two cases out of over 700,000 people who have received the AstraZeneca vaccine in Australia.
Medical authorities stress that the blood clots remain extremely rare in vaccine recipients, about about “four to six, per million doses of vaccine”, according to the Chief Health Officer last week.
“NSW Health does not speculate on or discuss individual cases, but the death of anyone is always a tragedy and our condolences are with the family and loved ones of the person who has passed away,” the NSW Health Department said, in a statement.
“An adverse event following immunisation is any untoward medical event that occurs after a vaccination has been given, which may be related to the vaccine.
“A conclusion regarding a causal relationship with the vaccine is not necessary to suspect or report an adverse event.
“Many conditions can arise during normal life, whether or not a vaccine is administered, but it remains important to report any new serious or unexpected events so that safety can be appropriately monitored.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison cautioned against jumping to conclusions, saying “I think there’s a lot more to understand and learn about that issue.”
“I think it’s important because of the fact that people can have concerns that we follow that important process to inform ourselves properly, to allow those medical experts to make their enquiries and to be able to inform government in an appropriate way,” he said.
“And so for us not to move to any conclusions at this point what’s important is that we continue on with the project and we’ll certainly do that.
“And we’ve been very transparent, very transparent when it comes to information on these issues.”
As of the latest update, 164,855 vaccinations for coronavirus have been administered in NSW.
This content first appear on 9news