A 54-year-old woman died in Montreal hospital after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. On Tuesday, Quebec public health director confirmed that the woman died of thrombosis and cerebral thrombosis following the administration of the vaccine.
In a press conference, the provincial public health director, Harracio Arruda, called the event rare. They expected it to happen since a default risk of one in every 100 000 doses exist. However, Arruda added that the benefit of the vaccine still outweighs the risks.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault noted the death with sadness. He, however, stressed that people would continue to be vaccinated.
“I’m very sad to know that a 54-year-old woman in good shape died because she was vaccinated. Unfortunately, their cases that happen. I think people will still continue getting vaccinated. It’s very unfortunate and we’re sad about it, but unfortunately, that’s the price of vaccination.”
Dr. Marc Rodger, physician-in-chief at Montreal’s MUHC, says that it not possible to predict a person who will develop clots. The deceased family issued a statement advising Quebecers to be vigilant after getting AstraZeneca shot on symptoms such as swollen limbs, blurred vision or abdominal pain.
The European Medicines Agency encourages people to seek help when they experience shortness of breath, develop tiny blood spots under the skin further away from the injection site, and have severe headaches.
Quebec has so far administered 400 000 doses of AstraZeneca. Two other cases of people with a reaction to the vaccine in the province have been reported. Arruda says one of the people had thrombosis but is recovering after treatment.
Lawmakers also renewed their call for people to get vaccinated. Parti Quebecois leader Pascal Berube and Liberal House Leader Andre Fortin called on people to get inoculated. They stressed that vaccine has risk and not with AstraZeneca alone.
