Health services in Cyprus seem embarrassed over the death on Monday of a 39-year-old British woman from a thrombotic episode days after she had received the AstraZeneca vaccine.
And at the same time, a 40-year-old Cypriot woman was also hospitalised for a thrombotic episode after receiving the same vaccine. She is reported to be instable condition.
A spokesperson for the Pharmaceutical Service has only said that the European Medicines Agency will investigate whether the death of the British woman is from Astrazeneca.
UK-born model Stephanie Dubois had been living in Paphos but died in Nicosia general hospital after days of battling for her life. It is understood she suffered a brain haemorrhage and was in a coma before she died.
Health specialist Dr Haris Armeftis said that according to the available data, such episodes occur in people under 55 years of age and mainly affect women in a percentage of 60% – 65%.
“We could reduce the risk if we only vaccinated people over the age of 55 with AstraZeneca. This is a tactic that has been applied in France, the United Kingdom, Greece, with different age restrictions in each country,” he added.
He expressed the view that the majority of young people under the age of 55 show this rare thrombotic incident that is sparked from the fifth to the 30th day after the first dose of the vaccine is a rare type associated with low platelets.
