Australians are nine times more likely to get a blood clot from Covid-19 than from the vaccine

Covid-19 is nine times more likely to cause a serious blood clot than the AstraZeneca vaccine, Chief Health Officer Paul Kelly said today.

A study of 500,000 Covid-19 patients in the US found that 36 in a million developed a potentially blood clot.

By comparison, only four per million people suffer a serious blood clot as a result of the AstraZeneca jab.

‘So, having COVID itself is a risk of clotting,’ said professor Kelly, who noted that 16 per cent of people hospitalised with the disease suffered some form of clotting.

A 48-year-old woman who died five days after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine was a much-loved worker for the health food company which makes Weet-Bix. (Stock image)

It comes after a 48-year-old woman died five days after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine 

She was a much-loved worker for a health food company which makes Weet-Bix. 

Questions remain why the woman was given the British-made Covid jab, which has been linked to blood clots, a day after authorities recommended it not be administered to people under 50.

The woman received the vaccine on April 9, developed blood clots the following day, was placed on dialysis in an intensive care unit and died on April 14.

Sanitarium Health Food Company, which is based on the New South Wales Central Coast, confirmed the woman was one of its 800 employees. 

‘We understand this case is under investigation by the coroner and the health department,’ a spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia. 

‘The company is saddened by the loss of a much loved employee, and we offer our heartfelt condolences to her family, friends and workmates.’ 

Sanitarium Health Food Company, which is based on the New South Wales Central Coast at Berkeley Vale, confirmed the woman was one of its 800 employees

Sanitarium, which has its factory and head office at Berkeley Vale, makes Weet-Bix, Up & Go breakfast drinks and So Good soy, almond and coconut milks.

The company was founded in Melbourne in 1898, manufactures only plant-derived products and is wholly owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 

The morning after the new AstraZeneca advice was issued NSW Health announced a temporarily pause to its use until ‘informed consent’ forms were updated with information about the blood clot risk.

The alternative Pfizer vaccine was preferred for those under 50, such as the Central Coast woman and the AstraZeneca vaccine rollout for those over 50 resumed later that day.

Daily Mail Australia understands the woman who died was diabetic. Professor Kelly said she had ‘chronic conditions’.

A NSW Health spokesman said the department could not confirm any link between the woman receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine and her death.

Australia had been relying on the AstraZeneca dose for the bulk of its vaccination program – but links to rare cases of blood clots in some countries had thrown the government’s rollout into disarray.

Experts in Australia now say those under 50s should be offered an alternative, while the British-made jab has been stopped altogether in Denmark and the Netherlands.