NICOSIA: A 39-year-old British woman died in a Cypriot hospital after a blood clotting incident after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, the official Cyprus News Agency said Monday.
Charalambos Charilaou, the spokesperson for the state health services, told CNA that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) would investigate the death.
The woman, treated at Nicosia General Hospital’s intensive care unit, received the first dose of the vaccine on May 6 in the resort town of Paphos on the western coast of the Mediterranean island.
The woman, who was not named, suffered symptoms days later.
Cyprus health authorities have opened an investigation to see if the “serious thrombotic episode” was linked to the AstraZeneca jab.
Cypriot authorities are investigating another
Four other cases of “mild” blood clotting incidents – three of which occurred after an AstraZeneca shot and one after a Pfizer jab – are also being investigated by Cyprus.
Some countries have restricted or dropped AstraZeneca shots from national vaccine campaigns over very rare blood clots, though the EMA says the benefits outweigh the risks.
AstraZeneca is the backbone of the vaccination rollout in Cyprus, where family doctors also allowed to administer the jab to anybody aged over 20.
But many people booking online to get the vaccine have snubbed AstraZeneca and opted for other shots.
According to Our World in Data figures, Cyprus is ranked third in the European Union for vaccinations per population, administering 57.54 doses per 100 people.
Nearly 49 percent of Cyprus’ adult population has received a COVID-19 vaccine shot, and 21 percent are fully vaccinated.
Total infections since the pandemic in March 2020 started is 71,911 and 354 deaths.
British woman dies in Cyprus after AstraZeneca COVID-19 jab
https://arab.news/cdmtv
British woman dies in Cyprus after AstraZeneca COVID-19 jab
- Cyprus health authorities have opened an investigation to see if the ‘serious thrombotic episode’ was linked to the AstraZeneca jab
US designates Afghanistan as ‘state sponsor of wrongful detention’
- “The Taliban continues to use terrorist tactics, kidnapping individuals for ransom or to seek policy concessions,” Rubio says
WASHINGTON, United States: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Monday he has designated Afghanistan as a “State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention,” demanding Taliban authorities release two Americans and commit to ending its “hostage diplomacy.”
The move comes just over a week after Iran became the first country added to Washington’s new “wrongful detention” blacklist.
President Donald Trump in September signed an executive order that created the blacklist, similar to designations by the United States on terrorism.
“The Taliban continues to use terrorist tactics, kidnapping individuals for ransom or to seek policy concessions,” Rubio said in a statement.
He said it was “not safe for Americans to travel to Afghanistan because the Taliban continues to unjustly detain our fellow Americans and other foreign nationals.”
“The Taliban needs to release Dennis Coyle, Mahmoud Habibi, and all Americans unjustly detained in Afghanistan now and commit to cease the practice of hostage diplomacy forever,” he added.
Habibi, an Afghan-American businessman, previously served as Afghanistan’s director of civil aviation.
He was arrested in August 2022 in Kabul along with dozens of other employees of his telecommunications company, according to US authorities.
The State Department has issued a reward of $5 million for information leading to Habibi’s return.
Coyle is an academic from Colorado who worked for two decades in Afghanistan before being detained in January 2025, according to the James Foley Foundation.
