Man who died after COVID vaccine not correctly informed about risks–experts

A medical practice in the United Kingdom (U.K.) has acknowledged that a 26-year-old man who died 13 days after receiving AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine was not correctly informed about the risk posed by the vaccine, the BBC reported Friday.

Jack Hurn, a native of Redditch, England, was vaccinated on May 29, 2021, at the Revival Fires Clinic in Dudley. He was accompanied by his girlfriend, Alex Jones, who also was vaccinated but not injured.

Hurn had recently graduated from Coventry University as an honors student in automotive design and planned to propose to Jones that summer. They had recently purchased a home together.

According to statements made in May 2022 by Michael Portman-Hann, the attorney representing Hurn’s family, both Hurn and Jones voiced concerns about the AstraZeneca vaccine and requested an alternative.

However, staff at the vaccination center refused, allegedly telling them the Pfizer vaccine was not available and assuring them that the AstraZeneca vaccine was safe.

The BBC reported that Hurn began to develop headaches on June 6, 2021, eight days after his vaccination. He was admitted to Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, where a brain scan revealed a blood clot.

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Hurn’s family believes he suffered a stroke the next day. However, they could not visit him because of the COVID-19 restrictions at the time.

Jack’s family “found it very difficult to get up-to-date information from hospital staff over the course of a number of days,” Portman-Hann said in May 2022. “They say there was confusion about whether Jack had actually suffered a stroke while at Redditch and could get no clear answers about his condition.”

Hurn was subsequently transferred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. There, scans revealed “catastrophic” bleeding in the brain which directly contributed to his death.

According to The BBC, hospital staff told his family nothing more could be done, and he died on June 11, 2021. Jones said they were not informed about the seriousness of possible side effects of the vaccine.

“It was not made clear to us that it was fatal and the blood clots were on the brain,” Jones said. “That would have made a difference to us.”

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Anchor Medical Practice, the lead practice of the local primary care network that oversaw the vaccination center, is a legal entity liable under U.K. law in such cases, The BBC reported.

Anchor Medical Practice did not administer the vaccine. However, it has admitted a breach of duty — but has not accepted liability for Hurn’s death.

In a letter sent to attorneys for the Hurn family, reviewed by the BBC, lawyers representing Anchor Medical Practice said: “It is admitted that Jack was told the risk magnitude was one in 250,000 in respect of clotting when the actual risk magnitude for his age group was one in 50,000.”

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“It is admitted that the failure to provide the correct risk magnitude for blood clots at the time of obtaining Jack’s consent was a breach of duty,” the letter added.

Hurn’s death resulted in an inquest — which coroners in England and Wales are required to perform in cases where deaths are sudden, unexplained or could have resulted from medical errors or negligence.

U.K. and EU healthcare officials also are required to report probable cases of vaccine-induced thrombosis and thrombocytopenia to the U.K.’s Expert Haematology Panel and Public Health England.

An inquest in the U.K. is held in public and is a formal process. Unlike a criminal court case, there is no prosecution and defense. However, findings at the inquest can lead to malpractice lawsuits.

In the case of Hurn’s death, the inquest results led to legal action, which the BBC reported his family has launched against the medical practice, alleging the decision to get vaccinated destroyed their lives.

By spring 2021, public health authorities in the U.K. and Europe had begun advising practitioners to offer alternatives to the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines to people under age 30, because of known risks, the BBC reported.

On April 7, 2021, the U.K.’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation acknowledged reports of an “extremely rare” adverse event of concurrent thrombosis (blood clots) and thrombocytopenia (low platelet count) following vaccination with the first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

On the same day, European regulators announced they discovered a “possible link” between the AstraZeneca vaccine and “very rare” blood clots, but concluded the benefits of the vaccine still outweigh the risks.

The announcement came after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) reviewed 62 reported cases of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis and 24 cases of splanchnic vein thrombosis in the EU drug safety database (EudraVigilance) as of March 22, 2021.

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Several lawsuits against AstraZeneca for vaccine-related deaths, injuries

The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, co-developed by the Jenner Institute and the Oxford Vaccine Group at the University of Oxford in the U.K., was widely administered to people in the U.K. and much of Europe.

As of January 2022, approximately 50 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine had been administered in the U.K.

Numerous high-profile reports of severe adverse events and deaths following administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine have since made the news — and have also resulted in lawsuits against the company which are currently pending.

In April 2021, 27-year-old U.K. engineer Jack Last died of “catastrophic brain bleeds” soon after he received the AstraZeneca vaccine. The following month, 48-year-old U.K. rock musician Zion died of a “catastrophic brain injury” following receipt of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

AstraZeneca is currently a defendant in a class-action lawsuit in the U.K. 51 claimants have filed, alleging serious injuries related to the vaccine. Twelve of the claimants are acting on behalf of a loved one who allegedly died from vaccine-induced blood-clotting issues.