MAN DIES AFTER RECEIVING AZ VACCINE

[Anchor Lead]

A man in his 30s has died 20 days after receiving an AstraZeneca vaccine. This is the nation's first death from a rare type of thrombosis, which is known as one of side effects caused by the AstraZeneca vaccine.

[Pkg]

The man in his early 30s received the AstraZeneca shot on May 27. Nine days later, he began suffering from a severe headache and nausea and received medical treatment. However, his symptoms continued to aggravate and he was eventually diagnosed with thrombocytopenic blood clotting on June 15. The patient died at 2:10 p.m. on Wednesday, local time, 20 days after the vaccination. He is the nation's first coronavirus vaccine recipient who died from thrombosis associated with the thrombocytopenia syndrome, which is one of the possible side effects presumably linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine. The man was confirmed to have developed blood clots and hemorrhage in the brain with low platelet levels. A government vaccination response task force said he had no underlying diseases and the direct cause of death was a brain hemorrhage. The taskforce further explained that an expert meeting also reconfirmed it as a case of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome. This is the nation's second case of rare blood clotting among AstraZeneca vaccine recipients. Having been reported on May 31, the first patient was hospitalized and received medical attention. He went back home last weekend. Medical experts call for the need to review and adjust the vaccination age limit, noting that vaccine-related adverse effects can be fatal despite its rarity.

[Soundbite] Kim Woo-joo(Korea University Guro Hospital) : "In the U.S., there were reports of thrombocytopenic blood clotting cases among people receiving Janssen vaccines as well as AstraZeneca. It is necessary to quickly raise the vaccination age limit to 50 even now."

Health authorities said although COVID-19 shots potentially cause side effects, the correlation between vaccination and death needs to be ultimately determined by a government panel investigating vaccine-related damage. They asked people to immediately go to a hospital if they experience symptoms like blurred vision, a severe headache, nausea and difficulty with breathing, after receiving COVID-19 jabs.