AstraZeneca vaccine deaths: Families ask why warnings not shared

The MHRA told Oli’s inquest that starting from 25 February 2021 it had identified three cases of blood clots to the brain associated with the AstraZeneca jab.

But the MHRA could not fully consider these cases as they did not receive all the necessary clinical information from hospitals.

The coroner raised concerns about this with the DHSC, saying the MHRA should be able to compel hospitals to give them such information as soon as possible.

The MHRA said: “Regarding the scope of MHRA’s powers to compel information to be provided by hospitals to patients, the Agency does not have legal powers to compel healthcare professionals to provide additional information.”

Miss Hoque said the AstraZeneca jab had already been suspended in many parts of Europe at the time of her brother’s death.

“This is information that I had to find through the internet,” she added.

“My GP she said the exact same thing, so it was clear that information was available at the time but the doctors in A&E said they were not aware, which was surprising… so obviously it cost lives.”

The DHSC said: “Our sympathies are with the families of Marina Waldron and Oli Hoque.

“This government is committed to learning lessons through the Covid-19 inquiry.”

It said vaccines would be discussed in Module 4 of the Covid-19 Inquiry, external, with hearings planned to start from 14 January to 30 January.

It added the “health system quickly responded to reports from the MHRA of extremely rare cases of concurrent thrombosis and thrombocytopenia following vaccination with the first dose of AstraZeneca.”

In April 2021, the Joint Commission on Vaccination and Immunisation advised adults under 30 without underlying health issues should be offered an alternative vaccine to AstraZeneca if available.

This was later extended in May 2021 to adults under 40 without underlying health issues.