Man, 28, who died after being wrongly given AstraZeneca Covid vaccine told 'count yourself lucky'

A healthy 28-year-old man who died after being wrongly given the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine was told to 'count yourself lucky' when he was given it.

Alex Reid, an operations controller from Leeds, 'did not understand why' he was invited to get the vaccination early in March 2021 as a man in his late 20s who was otherwise healthy.

But he was given the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine just weeks before the government warned that people under the age of 30 should be given an alternative jab because the AZ shot was linked with an increased risk of blood clots.

Tragically, he died three months later. A coroner's inquest has since concluded he was mistakenly invited forward for the inoculation because his GP records from 2004 - when he was just 11 - listed him as having a BMI of 68.97.

Now, it has been revealed that Mr Reid was told to count himself lucky when he queried why he was being invited for an early vaccine.

Alex Reid died of a blood clot after receiving the AstraZeneca jab early. He was erroneously flagged as being a vulnerable person because of an error in his GP records

A medic prepares a dose of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine during the pandemic. The jab was later linked to a greater risk of blood clots in the under-30s

His mother, Halina Reid, told the BBC: 'Surely this one call from Alex should have raised alarm bells since most of the calls the surgery was getting were from people asking why they had not been called.

'The person who took the call said she did not know, made no attempt to find out and just said, 'count yourself lucky'.'

She continued: 'After Alex's death, we knew something was not right - it has taken two years and five months to get answers.'

Coroner Oliver Longstaff has recommended adding 'validation rules' to GP record-keeping systems to stop 'obviously erroneous' information from being filed. 

The error was caused by a clinician recording Mr Reid's height at the age of 11 as being 145cm (4ft 9ins). His weight was then also entered as 145kg (319lbs).

The coroner ruled that if Mr Reid's BMI had been recorded properly, he would not have been flagged for early immunisation and would not have been put forward for the vaccine before its risk factors for the under-30s were known.

He wrote: 'When Alex was invited to receive his vaccination early, he did not understand why, and no one was able to tell him.

'If the obviously erroneous BMI had not been recorded or had been challenged at the point of entry by the relevant IT system, Alex... would not have died when he did.'

The inquest heard that designing a system to flag such errors in BMI 'would not have been feasible' at the time of the pandemic. 

But the coroner has challenged healthcare technology companies to incorporate checks for obvious errors into their software in future.

The AstraZeneca jab was the most widely used in the UK during the initial rollout of the vaccination programme - before it was linked to a risk in blood clots

Researchers believe the rare side effect occurs due to the modified cold virus lurking in the jab having an adverse effect on platelets in the blood, triggering clotting

A copy of his report has been sent to the chief medical officers of health technology firms EMIS, TPP and Cegedim, each of which provide record-keeping software for  GP practices, as well as to top bosses in NHS England and doctors' unions.

Addressing them directly in his report, the coroner added: 'In my opinion action should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe you or organisation have the power to take such action.' 

Each organisation has 56 days to respond to his recommendations. 

The UK began rolling out its vaccination programme in December 2020, with the government boasting of the 'unprecedented speed' with which it was implemented.

Vaccines were initially targeted at those most vulnerable to Covid-19's effects: particularly the elderly, disabled and those with pre-existing health conditions.

Mr Reid was vaccinated on March 21 because of his seemingly vulnerable status - though medical staff could not tell him why he had been put forward early.

And he received his jab just weeks before official advice was issued stating that people under the age of 30 should not receive the British-developed vaccine as their first dose due to the risk patients might suffer clots.

The UK's joint committee on vaccines and immunisation (JCVI) said in April 2021 that the AZ vaccine - then the most widely used in the country - had been linked to 79 blood clots out of 20million jabs administered.