Australia's technical advisory group for immunisation will undertake "continuous review" of all COVID-19 vaccines in domestic use after the death of a 48-year-old NSW woman who took the AstraZeneca jab.
A Therapeutic Goods Administration vaccine safety group met on Friday evening and concluded the woman's case of blood clots with low platelet count was likely to be linked to her AstraZeneca vaccination.
This is known as thrombosis with thrombocytopenia.
The TGA's Vaccine Safety Investigation Group (VSIG) said the 48-year-old, who had several chronic health conditions, received the jab on April 8.
Advice surrounding the use of the AstraZeneca jab was changed later that day, with those aged under 50 advised against taking the vaccine.
The woman was admitted to hospital four days later and died earlier this week.
The VSIG said the woman was the third Australian case of blood clots with low platelet count post-vaccination, with the first two cases still in hospital.
Some 885,000 AstraZeneca doses have been administered in Australia so far.
"The review of this case was complicated by the patient's underlying medical conditions, including diabetes, some other medical conditions as well as some atypical features," the VSIG said in a statement on Friday.
However the VSIG said a certain type of antibody common in other post-AstraZeneca vaccination blood clot cases was not present in this case.
There were also some laboratory test results pending.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt extended his condolences to the woman's family and said the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) would now conduct "continuous review" of all vaccines.
This would dovetail with the TGA's work, Mr Hunt said.
"Throughout the course of the pandemic, we have followed the medical advice and we will continue to do that ... sometimes that leads to difficult and hard decisions," Mr Hunt told reporters on Saturday.
"That is the greatest protection for Australians in a pandemic that daily produces challenges and heartaches and tragedies."
An autopsy on the 48-year-old woman will be conducted next week and a NSW coroner inquest into the woman's death will be held.
Medical authorities this week nevertheless called on Australians over 50 not to cancel their bookings for the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly told reporters in Canberra on Friday that "people should be cautious about jumping to conclusions" over the case and he urged people to continue to get vaccinated.
Professor Kelly confirmed some Australians have been reluctant to receive a vaccine since the medical advice on the AstraZeneca jab was updated.
However he stressed the vaccines were safer than the alternative, quoting a Oxford University study which found the risk of blood clots in the brain is eight times more likely after a COVID-19 infection than an AstraZeneca jab.
"Clotting is a feature of COVID," Prof Kelly said.
"It also happens to be a feature, very rarely, of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
"But the benefit absolutely, and particularly for those over the age of 50, outweighs significantly the risk."
Vaccination is crucial because the Australian community will not remain virus-free forever, Prof Kelly said.
Mr Hunt on Saturday reiterated "the balance for Australians is very clearly in terms of vaccinations".
The federal government has also appointed Commodore Eric Young to "advise and assist" with the roll out of inoculations at the Department of Health's Vaccine Operations Centre.
Additionally, the government will have to consider the possibility of Australians needing a third Pfizer jab after the company's boss suggested it may be necessary to maintain virus protection.
Elsewhere, COVID-19 appears to have jumped between neighbouring rooms in hotel quarantine in Sydney after seven cases from two family groups were revealed on Saturday to have the same viral sequence.
The cases may have to be reclassified as locally-acquired cases.
