A British-developed COVID vaccine caused the death of a government psychologist in his 30s, a coroner’s court in London ruled.
Dr. Stephen Wright, 32, developed a blood clot in his brain after getting his first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID vaccine in January 2021. Wright worked in southeast London as a clinical psychologist for the National Health Service (NHS) when he received the company’s jab, which was widely distributed around the world but not used in the U.S.
The inquest at London Inner South Coroner’s Court ruled that Wright’s death was due to “unintended complications” of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the AstraZeneca vaccine used a more traditional adenovirus technology rather than mRNA technology.
Senior coroner Andrew Harris told the court that “Dr. Wright was a fit and healthy man who had the AstraZeneca vaccine on January 16, 2021, awoke with a headache on January 25 and later developed left arm numbness.”
“It is very important to record as fact that it is the AstraZeneca vaccine – but that is different from blaming AstraZeneca,” Harris told the court.
Harris called Wright’s case “very unusual and deeply tragic.”
The inquest heard that Wright developed “vaccine-induced thrombosis” as well as a brainstem infarction and bleed on the brain.
He quickly deteriorated, and he was deemed unfit for surgery due to the nature of the bleed.
“He attended an A&E [accident and emergency] department just after midnight where was found to have high blood pressure and a sagittal sinus thrombosis,” Harris said. “He was transferred to King’s College Hospital at 6:39 a.m. but, due to the extent of the bleed and very low platelets, was unfit for surgery.”
One thrombosis expert said the blood-clotting syndrome occurs in about one in 50,000 people under 40 and one in 100,000 over 40. However, one study found blood clotting events to be more frequent — 11 blood clotting events per 100,000 vaccinations in a group of 280,000 people.
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Wright’s widow Charlotte was working to get the words “natural causes” changed on her husband’s death certificate.
She and dozens of others are pursuing litigation against AstraZeneca.
“It was made clear that Stephen was [previously] fit and healthy and that his death was by vaccination of AstraZeneca,” Charlotte Wright said after the inquest. “For us, it allows us to be able to continue our litigation against AstraZeneca. This is the written proof.”
“Even with people in my life, there were questions and queries about whether I was actually telling the truth so, two years later, I can finally say it is the truth,” she told the BBC.
Wright and her husband had two boys together who are now nine and three. She was on maternity leave when her husband died and used food banks to support her sons before she received £120,000, or about $149,160, from the U.K. government’s Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme.
“I find it very comforting that I have two boys that remind me of him every day. I’m just very thankful that I got to marry such a great man and raise our boys in his honor,” she said.
AstraZeneca responded to the coroner’s court ruling by saying that “the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side effects.”
“We are very saddened by Stephen Wright’s death and extend our deepest sympathies to his family for their loss. Patient safety is our highest priority and regulatory authorities have clear and stringent standards to ensure the safe use of all medicines, including vaccines,” an AstraZeneca spokesman said.