S. Korea reports 1st clotting death after AstraZeneca shot
Jun 17, 2021
Seoul (South Korea), June 17: A patient being treated in an unusual blood clotting case after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine died Wednesday, health authorities said.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) told reporters that the patient, who was confirmed as the nation's first clotting death after receiving the AstraZeneca shot, died at 2:10 p.m. Wednesday.
The man in his 30s was confirmed to have the very rare but serious side effect, called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, following inoculation on May 27.
The patient showed symptoms of a severe headache and nausea nine days after receiving the vaccine shot, the KDCA said.
He was later admitted to a hospital and diagnosed with the syndrome on Tuesday, it said.
The KDCA said it plans to review the case with experts, including the patient's side effects and medical progress leading up to his death, to make improvements in the required areas based on its epidemiological investigation.
Earlier, the rollout of vaccines manufactured by British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University was temporarily halted due to reports of blood clots in some European countries.
The authorities and the World Health Organization, however, advised that vaccinations be resumed, saying that the vaccine may be associated with blood clots in some very rare cases but its benefits outweigh the risk of possible side effects.
Source: Yonhap
