TBILISI -- Georgian officials are investigating the death of a 27-year-old Georgian nurse to see if it is tied to her receiving AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine.
Georgian officials said Megi Bakradze went into anaphylactic shock on March 18, soon after being inoculated with the vaccine produced by the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker.
She was later transferred from the city of Akhaltsikhe to a Tbilisi clinic, where she died on March 19.
The Georgian Health Ministry said an investigation had been launched to determine the cause of the woman's death, which occurred shortly after she had been vaccinated.
It was not immediately known if the woman had a history of reactions to medicines.
A number of European countries have suspended use of the AstraZeneca vaccine over the past week following reports of serious blood clotting in some recipients.
The concerns surrounded reports of around 30 cases of rare brain blood clots after millions of injections. The news sent scientists and governments scrambling to determine if there is a link.
However, nearly a dozen countries resumed use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine on March 19 as European Union and British regulators said the benefits outweigh any risks.
The drugmaker's own review covering more than 17 million people who have received its vaccine in the EU and Britain also found no evidence of increased risk of blood clots.
Despite concerns over the side effects, Georgia on March 15 launched a national coronavirus vaccine rollout by inoculating medical workers with the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Georgia received the first 43,200 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine on March 13. By the morning of March 19, 3,642 medical workers have been inoculated, according to official data.
Georgia expects batches of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine later this month.
The South Caucasus nation of some 3.7 million people has reported more than 276,000 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic and over 3,600 related deaths.
