The family of a retired health inspector now on the verge of death claims he developed several blood clots after receiving the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine last week.
The man’s nephew told Crime Watch host Ian Alleyne that his 60-year-old uncle went to the Princes Town District Health Facility last Wednesday and received the shot.
On Friday morning, the man complained of belly pains and went to lie down.
“Like he went to get his belly rubbed and when it was time to get up from the bed, he could not get up. From his waist down; totally paralysed. Totally, totally gone,” the nephew told Alleyne by phone.
The nephew said his uncle did not get his belly rubbed and before getting the vaccine, had no pains or symptoms of any sickness.
“It real, real bad right now,” the man told Alleyne
The relative said doctors at the San Fernando General Hospital were trying their best but had already told the family there was nothing more they could do for him. He said doctors told that family that the only cause they could ascertain that it may have been a reaction to the vaccine.
The family is now calling on the Ministry of Health to conduct more research on the vaccine, as they said scans have since uncovered several blood clots in his body and down to his toes are now discoloured.
In another media report, Faleel Ali said the doctors had admitted to family members that it was the vaccine that had caused the blood cots, as there was no other ailment that could be responsible. Ali said the doctor told the family his uncle might only have a few hours or days to live, depending on how his body reacts to blood thinners.
He explained that because his uncle was a patient of the cardiac clinic, he got a phone call last week requesting that he go to the health facility to get the vaccine. He said although the family advised him against going, he put his faith in medicine.
By Friday, he was suffering abdominal pain and partial paralysis. Relatives took him to a private medical centre where a CT scan showed a blood clot blocking an artery. The doctors there advised relatives to take him to the San Fernando General Hospital for an emergency surgery. However, doctors there initially refused to admit him, saying that it could be COVID-19 and insisted that he do a test first. Even after the test, family members claimed surgeons refused to do the operation.
Efforts by Guardian Media to reach South West Regional Health Authority CEO Dr Brian Armour last night were unsuccessful.
