A Rio de Janeiro man who was participating in the Oxford University trials of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine has died of complications from Covid-19, Brazil’s health authorities have announced.

Brazil’s National Health Surveillance said on Wednesday that it was informed of the death on October 19, along with a recommendation that the study be continued. Brazilian media did not identify the deceased by name, saying only that he was 28 years old and either a doctor or a medical student.

It remains unknown whether the man was taking the hyped AstraZeneca vaccine client or as part of a control group taking the placebo. The clinical data has to be kept confidential to protect the participants and the integrity of the study, ANVISA said in a statement.

AstraZeneca’s stock dropped sharply following the announcement, losing a dollar per share, before inching its way back up almost to its previous levels over the course of the afternoon.

Meanwhile, the Korean Medical Association has called on the country’s government to halt its plan to inoculate millions of citizens after up to twenty people died after receiving flu shots.

The vaccine initiative billed as a strategy to potentially offset complications from Covid-19, aims to provide free flu jabs to 19 million people. But the ambitious undertaking has come under fire after 30 people died, including a 17-year-old boy and a man in his 70s, after participating in the program. 

During a press conference on Thursday, Choi Dae-zip, president of the Korean Medical Association requested that the flu shot campaign be put on hold until safety concerns about the vaccine could be properly addressed. 

Korean health authorities claim that they have found no direct links between the reported deaths and the flu shot, well, they would, wouldn’t they?

Ironically, as the survival rate for those suffering from the COVID-19 virus s 99.06% there is a stronger likelihood of dying from a vaccine jab.   

‘The number of deaths has increased, but our team sees low possibility that the deaths resulted from the shots,’ Jeong Eun-kyeong, director of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said while addressing parliament. Health Minister Park Neung-hoo acknowledged that people were ’concerned’ about the vaccine but said that the program would continue. 

Vaccine safety has become a hot button issue as governments and pharmaceutical companies rush to develop an effective coronavirus jab. Source 1, Source 2.