In a first, Australia man develops blood clot after getting AstraZeneca vax

Melbourne, April 3

A man in Australia's Victoria state has been hospitalised after developing a blood clot following his inoculation against Covid-19 using the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The 44-year-old man received the vaccine on March 22 and was admitted to Melbourne's Box Hill hospital days later with a fever and abdominal pain, Xinhua news agency quoted a report by the Guardian on Saturday.

He was found to have abdominal clots with a low platelet count, according to the report.

This is the first blood clot case recorded in Australia after earlier cases in Europe prompted a number of countries to temporarily suspend the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), a regulatory authority, said it is investigating this "rare case".

TGA is also working closely with international regulators and is participating in meetings with the UK's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the European Medicines Agency to discuss these rare cases over the coming few days.

The regulatory body also defended inoculation, saying no cause-and-effect relationship between Covid-19 vaccination and this case or those reported internationally has been established at this stage.

Benefits of vaccination against Covid-19 continue to outweigh any risks.

According to the latest statistics from Australia's Health Department, 541,761 vaccine doses have been administered as of March 28. IANS

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