Two new patients died from blood clots – VG

– These are two tragic deaths among patients who were admitted with the special combination of blood clots, bleeding and low platelet counts, says the medical director of the Norwegian Agency for Medicines Steinar Madsen to VG.

He states that both died on Sunday and that they were admitted to Rikshospitalet.

On Thursday it emerged that five patients under the age of 50 were admitted to Oslo University Hospital with severe blood clots, low platelets and bleeding after receiving the vaccine. Three of them were health workers.

One of them died. Two more deaths have been reported in OUS.

– The Norwegian Medicines Agency cannot rule out that these cases may have a connection to the AstraZeneca vaccine, the press release states.

A causal link between the vaccine and suspected side effects has not yet been established.

– Very sad

Madsen doesn’t want to say anything about the patients’ gender, age, or whether they were healthcare workers, nor does he want to say anything about when they were vaccinated.

– This is very sad and we take the situation very seriously, says Madsen.

He also does not want to comment on when the patients were admitted.

– Everything that can be done has been done, it answers the question of what treatment patients have received after admission.

– Are you afraid of more deaths?

– It has been a while now since we put AstraZeneca on hiatus, so we hope there are no more deaths, says the director of the Norwegian Medicines Agency.

Jacob Lund, communications director for AstraZeneca, does not want to comment on the deaths, stating that AstraZeneca has no further information on the deaths beyond what is known through the media.

AstraZeneca is in dialogue with Norwegian and European authorities as they work to investigate a possible connection between vaccination and side effects.

– We have been helpful in answering questions and giving you information about our security databases, says Lund.

– We relate to the fact that the European Medicines Agency continues to recommend vaccination and that they consider that the benefit outweighs the risk. At the same time, we respect that the Norwegian authorities make their own assessments and investigations.

– No need to worry

It was previously known that the patients in question became ill between three and 12 days after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Around 130,000 Norwegians have been vaccinated with AstraZeneca so far.

– No one who has received the AstraZeneca vaccine has cause for concern, says professor of medicine Per Morten Sandset to VG.

He is a specialist in diseases of the blood, with blood clots as his field of research.

– The vast majority have received the vaccine more than two weeks ago. We don’t expect any of them to get sick, says Sandset.

Sterk’s immune response

He believes that it cannot be ruled out that the disease that has caused three deaths is related to the vaccine.

– An immune reaction may have triggered a rare type of blood clot and a low number of platelets, which can cause bleeding, says Sandset.

Professor Pål Andre Holme from Rikshospitalet has previously stated that it was most likely the vaccine that triggered a strong immune reaction, leading to them getting sick.

The EU Medicines Agency believes that a connection cannot yet be seen and is adamant that the vaccine is safe. WHO also recommends continued use of the vaccine.

The Norwegian Medicines Agency, MHRA, announced on Thursday that they have received five reports of the same serious side effects from AstraZeneca that we have seen in Norway.

The condition has occurred in vaccinated men ages 19 to 59, according to the Telegraph. One of them died.

Investigations continue

The AstraZeneca vaccine has been suspended in Norway since Thursday last week.

The Norwegian Medicines Agency and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) continue to review reports of similar adverse reactions in Europe to see if these cases may be related to vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Initially, the EMA would not include specific thrombotic cases in the list of possible side effects for AstraZeneca. The EMA safety committee has now decided that these cases are described in the summary of product characteristics and the package leaflet.

The Norwegian Medicines Agency reports all cases in Norway to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and to the WHO.

The unusual picture of the disease with blood clots, bleeding and low platelet counts has not been seen after vaccination with the other corona vaccines used in Norway.

The Norwegian Medicines Agency, the National Institute of Public Health and the Oslo University Hospital are now collaborating on comprehensive investigations of these cases.

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Correction: In an urgent report on 04/21, the NTB news agency announced the following: “The Norwegian Medicines Agency: Two new healthcare workers died of blood clots after receiving AstraZeneca vaccine.” VG reproduced this message, but the Norwegian Medicines Agency states in a press release that the two were patients. The bug was corrected at 21:32.