AN IRISH woman is reportedly being treated for a blood clot after taking AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine.
While it's too early to say for sure if the blood clot has been caused by the jab itself, an investigation is now underway to determine exactly what happened.
The 40-year-old woman, who is believed to be from Dublin, is currently being treated in the Mater Hospital for cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) - a blood clot on the brain which the European Medicines Agency has said could be linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
She reportedly received the jab last month, and was admitted to hospital after suffering from severe headaches.
She's currently in recovery and is expected to be discharged in the coming days.
The woman's sister said she was "horrendously sick" for a number of days after she received the vaccine.
"After two days she didn't feel 100% right," she told the Irish Times.
"On Saturday, Sunday, the 28th, 29th of March she started to develop these headaches and we were all putting it down to being a bit of stress, migraine, stuff like that, but it just wouldn't go away.
"On Tuesday her face started to get puffy and swell up. She got an appointment with the doctor for Thursday morning and the doctor said I don't like the look of you, and sent her straight to the Mater Hospital."
It's understood that the patient will now be off work for three months, won't be able to drive for six weeks, and will have to live with relatives for a number of weeks too so they can keep an eye on her.
Chair of the Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group Professor Philip Nolan said of the situation: "We received into our database one case report of what we would term, a case of special interest. And that's because it describes CVST.
"At this point, obviously, the case will receive our utmost priority and we are following up, in terms of the details of that specific case to get a clearer, clinical picture of exactly what is happening with the individual in question," he added.
"So it's not possible for me to say at this stage if it fits the exact profile of these rare blood clotting events that happen.
"I also do note the individual in question is making a recovery and is expected to be discharged from hospital. That is very promising in relation to the issue."
