Edmonton — A woman in Alberta in her 50s died of a rare thrombotic disorder after receiving the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
This is the second reported death from vaccine-induced immunothrombotic thrombocytopenia or VITT associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine in Canada. A 54-year-old Quebec woman died last month.
Alberta’s Director of Health, Dr. Dina Hinsho, said in a late Tuesday statement that of the more than 253,000 doses of AstraZeneca ever given in Alberta, the death toll is the second VITT case in the state. Said.
Two weeks ago, Alberta announced that a man in his 60s had been diagnosed with VITT and was recovering.
Although death is tragic, Hinsho said, “It is important to remember that the risk of death from COVID-19 and other serious consequences is far greater than the risk after AstraZeneca vaccination.” Stated.
She said the global risk of developing VITT is estimated to be about 1 in 100,000 to 250,000 doses of the vaccine. By comparison, Albertans between the ages of 50 and 59 diagnosed with COVID-19 are 350 times more likely to die of the infection than to experience VITT after an injection of AstraZeneca.
The latest deaths associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine appeared to be inconsistent with Health Canada’s long-standing recommendation that the best vaccine was first available by the National Advisory Board on Immunity in the days It will happen later.
NACI said Monday that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were “favorable”, before Canadians decided whether to inoculate one of the other two COVID-19 vaccines approved in Canada more quickly. He said the risks of waiting for one of them need to be weighed.
Both AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are associated with VITT in very few cases.
As a result, Commission Vice-Chairman Dr. Sherry Dikes said people working from home in less ill states may want to wait for Pfizer or Moderna vaccination.
However, she said it would be a very different risk and benefit analysis for those working in manufacturing plants without personal protective equipment in a wildfire-spreading state of COVID-19.
On Tuesday, there were 23,623 COVID-19 infections in Alberta. This is the highest case rate in any jurisdiction in North America. There were 671 people in the hospital due to illness and 150 in the intensive care unit.
So far, 2,099 people have died in Alberta related to the virus.
As of April 24, Canada has received approximately 1.7 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine.