Australian Blood Clot Case Likely Not Linked to AstraZeneca, Leading Epidemiologist Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The blood clot case reported in Australia on Friday is likely not linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine, Australian University professor, leading epidemiologist, and World Health Organisation adviser Marylouise McLaws said.

"Before we start linking the dots, we just need to put this into perspective that this is a very rare event and it's likely not to do with AstraZeneca", she told 9news.

A 44-year old Melbourne man was admitted to hospital on Friday after having received the AstraZeneca shot around 22 March with a rare blood clotting disorder.

McLaws explained that over 10 million people are diagnosed with a clot each year and the particular case of the Melbourne man was very rare.

Empty vials of Oxford/AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine are seen at a vaccination centre in Antwerp, Belgium March 18, 2021. REUTERS/Yves Herman

© REUTERS / YVES HERMAN

"When you've been vaccinated and you have one of these rare events, people get very anxious because they think there's some causation but there is probably likely to be no causation", she added.

The leading epidemiologist also mentioned that she does not think Australians should be worried at all.

Over 420,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been administered in Australia and according to McLaws, the rollout has been "very slow" in comparison to other countries.

In the middle of March, several European Union countries stopped the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine following reports of blood clotting cases in people who had previously gotten the vaccine. The European Medicines Agency has found no direct link between the vaccine and the incidents.