Botswana has opened an investigation into the deaths of two out the thousands of people who had been given doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine to see if there is any link, the health ministry said.
The Botswana health ministry said in a statement late on Sunday, that the two deaths were of elderly people.
The AstraZeneca doses which are made in India and are being distributed under the brand name, COVISHIELD, have been dished out in million doses around the world.
The European Medicines Agency received reports of 169 cases of the rare brain blood clot by early April, after 34 million doses had been administered, Sabine Straus, chair of the EMA’s safety committee, said.
Most of the cases reported had occurred in women under 60.
“The ministry has referred the matter to the regulator for immediate investigation. It is expected that the investigation will seek to establish the cause of two deaths as well as whether they are in any way linked to the COVID vaccine which was administered,” the statement read.
