Covid-19: Vaccine reaction listed as underlying cause for one NI death

An adverse reaction to a Covid-19 vaccine has been listed as an underlying cause for one death in Northern Ireland.

The government statistics agency Nisra said the death was registered during the first quarter of 2021.

The person who died was a man aged over 90 in the Northern Trust area. No further details are known.

The Department of Health, which runs the vaccination programme, said it could not discuss individual cases.

In March 2021, the World Health Organisation (WHO) created new additional codes for the classification of deaths, covering Covid-19 effects and adverse effects caused by vaccines.

The Northern Ireland Registrar General Quarterly report, published by Nisra, shows that of the 2,916 death certificates in which Covid-19 is mentioned anywhere up to 31 March 2021, one includes the new code for "Covid-19 vaccines causing adverse effects in therapeutic use, unspecified".

Almost two million vaccine doses have been administered in Northern Ireland, roughly evenly split between the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines.

Suspected adverse reactions (ADRs) are recorded through the Yellow Card scheme in the UK, operated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

It has said that the "overwhelming majority" of reports concern reactions at the injection site, like a sore arm, and generalised symptoms such as "flu-like" illness, headache, chills, fatigue, feeling sick, fever, and rapid heartbeat.

There has been a small number of reports worldwide of people developing clots after a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, an occurrence that is described as "extremely rare".

There have been no reports of clots after getting a second dose.

Of the 2,354 ADRs for the AstraZeneca vaccine recorded in Northern Ireland up to 9 June 2021, nine have been unusual blood clots with low platelet levels.

There were 1,554 ADRs reported for the Pfizer vaccine.