The Capital Region of Denmark, the authority which handles
the health care system in Copenhagen, said that one of the hospital staff had
died and both had received the AstraZeneca vaccine less than 14 days before
getting ill.
The Danish medicines agency confirmed it had received two
‘serious reports’, without giving further details.
Meanwhile, scientists are exploring several possibilities
that might explain at least 18 reports of extremely rare blood clots in the
brain that occurred in individuals in the days and weeks after receiving the
AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
European investigators have put forward one theory that the
vaccine triggers an unusual antibody in some rare cases; others are trying to
understand whether the cases are linked with birth control pills.
But many scientists say there is no definitive evidence and
it is not clear whether or why AstraZeneca’s vaccine would cause an issue not
shared by other vaccines that target a similar part of the coronavirus.
Most of the rare blood clots have been seen in women and
most cases have been reported in Europe. Two cases have been reported in India.
The European Medicines Agency said a preliminary review
suggests the vaccine is not associated with an increase in the overall risk of
blood clots.
But it did not rule out an association with rare cases of
blood clots in vessels draining the blood from the brain known as cerebral
venous sinus thrombosis (CVST).
Researchers in Germany and Norway, where some of the cases
have been reported, this week hypothesized that the vaccine could be triggering
an immune response in which the body produces antibodies that could result in
blood clots.