Doctor's death due to AstraZeneca Covid vaccine reaction - inquest

Stephen Wright, an NHS psychologist in south-east London, died 10 days after his first dose in January 2021, senior coroner Andrew Harris found.

Dr Wright, 32, suffered a blood clot to the brain after receiving the vaccine.

His wife Charlotte has been trying to get the "natural causes" wording on her husband's death certificate changed.

She is pursuing legal action against the pharmaceutical company, along with dozens of other people.

At London Inner South Coroner's Court, the coroner described it as a "very unusual and deeply tragic case". AstraZeneca (AZ) has been approached for comment.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's World at One, Ms Wright agreed that some people had not been prepared to listen to her over how her husband had died.

She said: "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."

Speaking outside the court, the mother of two, from Sevenoaks in Kent, said: "It provides relief but it doesn't provide closure. I think we're only going to get that when we have an answer from AstraZeneca and the government."

She added: "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 honour."

Dr Wright's mother, Anne Wright, revealed he was due to start a job at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London the week after he died.

She said: "He loved his job, he loved the children he worked with, he loved the young people, and he had a real empathy with them and they really seemed to get on with him."

Charlotte Wright, who was on maternity leave when her husband died, said that before she had received £120,000 from the government's Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) in August, she had used food banks to help support her children, now aged nine and three.

Up to 21 March, only 63 out of 4,178 claims received by the VDPS had led to payments, according to NHS figures.

Side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine can include changes to the heartbeat, shortness of breath and swelling of the lips, face or throat, according to the UK government.

From May 2021, the jab was no longer offered to adults under 40 due to a link with rare blood clots.

Research into why that happens suggests a part of the vaccine can trigger a complex chain reaction involving the immune system which results in clots developing.

The UK medicines safety regulator, the MHRA, continues to monitor the effects of the vaccine.

More than 1,300 suspected deaths after taking the AZ Covid jab have so far been reported to the regulator out of more than 50 million first and second doses given out. The MHRA has always said that the benefits of any vaccines or medicines must outweigh their risks.

The UK government estimates the vaccine programme prevented more than 80,000 deaths from Covid during the first six months after it was rolled out in 2021.

According to a study in the Lancet, Covid vaccinations - many of which would have been AZ jabs - prevented 14 million deaths in 185 countries between December 2020 and December 2021.

Speaking to the BBC last year, Ms Wright said of her husband: "Being in the profession he was in, I truly believe that if he had been told all of the possible reactions, he would have still taken it [the vaccine] because I am aware it is a rare situation."

-bbc