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Brits have been urged to keep taking the AstraZeneca vaccine by the family of a man who died from a blood clot after receiving it.
Neil Astles, 59, suffered worsening headaches and loss of vision for 10 days before dying in hospital on Easter Sunday.
He is the first named person in Britain who is suspected to have died from the coronavirus jab’s side effects.
His family’s plea comes after UK medical regulators announced under-30s in the UK would be offered an alternative jab to the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) made the decision due to the evidence linking it to rare blood clots.
Mr Astles, a married solicitor who worked at Warrington Council, had received his first dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine on March 17.
He died from a blood clot on the brain, the Telegraph reports.
His sister, Dr Alison Astles, the subject leader for pharmacy at the University of Huddersfield, said his family wanted people to continue taking it as fewer people will die as a result.
She said the family was completely and utterly furious when it came to their emotions.
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But there was nothing in their minds to be "really furious about", as her brother had been extraordinarily unlucky, she said.
Dr Astles told the newspaper: "Despite what has happened to our family, we strongly believe that everyone should go for their first and second doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
"If we all have the vaccine a few of us might have a blood clot, but the evidence is that fewer people will die.
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"We trust the process, we trust the regulator, and despite what has happened to our family, we don't want people to be scared off."
A review by the UK drugs regulator found by the end of March 79 people had suffered rare blood clots after receiving a vaccine, with 19 of them having died.
MHRA boss Dr June Raine said the "risk remains extremely small" even with "evidence firming" up links between jabs and blood clots.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said vaccines are clearly breaking the link between Covid cases and deaths in the UK and were saving "thousands of lives".
He said the chance of developing a rare brain blood clot is four in a million.
This is about the equivalent risk of "taking a long-haul flight", he told BBC Breakfast.
- Coronavirus
- Science
- Family
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