BRASILIA, July 22 - Reuters - The death of a 16 year-old who had a first dose of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine against COVID - 19 was due to a prior blood clot condition not related to the vaccine, Brazil's health regulator Anvisa said on Wednesday.
Concluding an investigation of the death earlier this month, Anvisa said it was caused by an auto-immune disease suffered by the adolescent. The Pfizer vaccine is the only vaccine approved for minors in Brazil. It was a characteristic clinical picture of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, an autoimmune disease, said the regulator in a statement.
Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura is a serious disorder that causes blood clots to form in small blood vessels throughout the body that can cause rare medical problems if they restrict the flow of blood to organs such as brain, kidneys and heart.
Concerns for COVID - 19 vaccines and blood clots has led the investigations by researchers across the globe.
The European Commission requested scientific opinion from the European Medicines Agency EMA to determine whether men and young adults were at higher risk of blood clots after vaccination with AstraZeneca's COVID 19 shot. Brazil's state governments last week vowed to halt COVID -19 vaccinations for adolescents while the death was under investigation as a suspected adverse event.
Some 3.5 million Brazilians between the ages of 12 and 17 have been immunized.