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Austria Suspends AstraZeneca Batch After Death

Austria will stop using doses from one batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine while the death of a nurse who received it is investigated, health officials … Continue reading Austria Suspends AstraZeneca Batch After Death


A Red Cross volunteer handles a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine on February 11, 2021 at the start of a vaccination campaign at a hub for Covid-19 vaccinations located in Rome’s Fiumicino airport long-term parking area. – The 1,500-sqm hub is Italy’s first major national covid-19 vaccination centre to open at an airport, with the capacity to administer 3,000 vaccines per day. The initiative is being driven by the management company, Aeroporti di Roma (AdR), in collaboration with the Lazio Region, Rome’s Spallanzani Institute and the Italian Red Cross. (Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP)
(Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP)

Austria will stop using doses from one batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine while the death of a nurse who received it is investigated, health officials have said.

The decision had been taken as a precaution, the National Office for Health System Safety (BASG) said late on Sunday, adding that there was “no evidence of a causal link” between the jab and the woman’s death.

The 49-year-old nurse died two days after having the jab from “severe blood coagulation problems” and another woman who received a jab from the same batch developed a pulmonary embolism, but is now recovering.

Both women received the vaccination at a hospital in the town of Zwettl, west of the capital Vienna.

An autopsy is being carried out at Vienna’s AKH hospital on the woman who died, with the results expected in the coming weeks.

“Based on the known clinical data, a causal relationship cannot be established, as thrombotic events are not one of the typical side effects of the vaccination,” the BASG statement said.

“The necessary investigation is currently underway… to definitively rule out any possible link.”

Regional prosecutors confirmed to AFP that no judicial steps would be taken against the hospital as no anomalies in the delivery, storage or administration of the vaccine had been reported.

Since inoculation campaigns began in earnest, isolated cases have been reported in some countries of people dying shortly after receiving a vaccine.

-AFP