The family of a solicitor who developed a blood clot and died after receiving the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine have urged people to continue taking it.
Neil Astles, 59, is the first named person suspected to have died of side-effects linked to the jab. He had a first dose on March 17 and died on Easter Sunday at Royal Liverpool University Hospital after developing headaches.
His sister, Alison Astles, told The Daily Telegraph: “Despite what has happened to our family, we strongly believe that everyone should go for their first and second doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Emotionally we are completely and utterly furious. We are suffering. But there’s nothing in our minds to be really furious about. My brother was just extraordinarily unlucky.
“If we all have the vaccine, a few of us might have a blood clot but the evidence is that fewer people will die. We trust the process, we trust the regulator.” Dr Astles, the subject lead for pharmacy at the University of Huddersfield, said her brother, who worked for Warrington council and was fit, healthy and a keen jogger, had suffered a loss of vision in his right eye and headaches after his first jab.
His symptoms worsened on Friday night and his brother took him to A&E. He was diagnosed with “cerebral sinus thrombosis and subarachnoid haemorrhage” and “low platelets and extraordinarily high d-dimer”, Astles said.
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She added that she was told by clinicians at the hospital they were 99.9% sure the clot was due to the vaccine.
Astles said she decided to speak out after watching the press conference about the AstraZeneca vaccine on Wednesday led by Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer.
A coroner is due to report the official cause of Astle’s death. The case was said to have been discussed by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and the British Society for Haematology.