Mother died due to rare 'brain bleed' side effect of COVID-19 vaccine, coroner rules

• A woman has died after a bleed on her brain caused by an extremely rare side effect of the COVID-19 vaccine.
• Kim Lockwood, 34, experienced a severe headache after having the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

A woman died after a "catastrophic" bleed on her brain, caused by Vaccine-Induced Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia (VITT), an extremely rare side effect of the COVID-19 vaccine, an inquest heard.

Kim Lockwood, aged 34, from Rotherham, England, began experiencing horrific headaches eight days after the dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine in March 2021.

As her condition worsened, she was taken to Rotherham hospital, where she was pronounced dead 17 hours on March 24.

This week, the inquest at Doncaster Coroner's Court heard that Lockwood originally went to Rotherham Hospital's ER two days before she died but left without being seen after waiting a long time.

South Yorkshire Coroner Nicola Mundy said Lockwood had been "extremely unlucky," and by the time she was seen, there would have been no way to help her, the BBC reported.

At the time Lockwood's death, there was very sparse information about the relationship between the COVID-19 jab and VITT, Mundy said, adding that now "medical advances" mean the condition is better understood.

Mundy also said that Lockwood's pain "wasn't appropriately managed," and said the concerns of her and her family should have been listened to better.

The BBC reported that Lockwood's father, Wayne Merrill, said his daughter's last words to him were that her headache was "actually killing her."

The inquest was a read a family tribute to the mother of two sons: Jayden, 14, and Jax, seven. It described a "kind, fun-loving" mother who loved to dance.

Speaking after the inquest, Lockwood's family said she had died in agony, the BBC reported.

The Government data which assesses reactions from COVID-19 vaccines shows that Lockwood's reaction was extremely rare.

So far, the UK Government states that there have been 438 reported cases of thromboembolic events (blood clotting) and 78 deaths after an estimated 24.9 million first doses and 24.2 million second doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. It equates to roughly 0.001% of people taking the AstraZeneca vaccine experiencing a blood clot and 0.0003% experiencing fatal effects.

Acknowledging these extremely rare outcomes, a government statement said that vaccination is still "the single most effective way to reduce deaths and severe illness from COVID-19."

People who had COVID-19 were about eight times more likely to have a blood clot on their brain than somebody who took the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Clots are extremely rare in both cases, but occurred significantly more in people who got sick from COVID-19, according to a comparison of two large data sets by experts at the University of Oxford, Insider's Marianne Guenot reports.

In the UK, 52.7 million people have had their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, with 49.2 million having had their second, UK data shows.

38.5 million people have had a third or booster dose.