A young engineer who loved extreme sports died as a direct result of the Astra Zeneca Covid vaccine; a coroner has concluded.
Jack Last, was just 27 when he died at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge on April 20 last year, 11 days after he attended West Suffolk A&E because of severe headaches.
He had received the Astra Zeneca vaccine three weeks earlier – a week after Jack had the jab, it was withdrawn for use in under-30s because of concerns over blood clots.
Senior coroner Nigel Parsley recorded a narrative conclusion at an inquest into Jack’s death held at Suffolk Coroner’s Court.
He said: “In Jack’s case, I will record that Jack Last died of a blood clot to the brain as a direct result of his body’s reaction to the AstraZeneca vaccine given to him on March 30, 2021.”
Jack’s devastated family paid tribute to their son, brother, and friend.
In a statement read by lawyer Michael Portman-Hann, they said: “Jack was a happy, healthy young man and was looking forward to so many things.
“Having been told time and time again by the government that it was the right and safe thing to do, Jack got the Oxford Astra Zeneca Covid jab when contacted by the NHS. When it went horribly wrong, he was met with a distinct lack of action.
“What a cruel waste of the whole rest of his life.”
Mr Portman-Hann, an associate with FBC Manby Bowdler’s clinical negligence team, said: “Jack’s was the only case of this nature that West Suffolk Hospitals have dealt with and, sadly, they just did not have the facilities to deal with complications when things went wrong.
“The inquest was told that West Suffolk, where Jack was initially seen, did not have facilities for CT venous imaging to be performed out of hours due to a lack of trained staff.
“This has been identified as a risk and the hospital has now recruited and trained staff in this area. Had they been able to do the correct scan and see definite evidence of VITT [vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia], treatment would have been started sooner and Jack might have survived.
“A normal head CT scan was done when Jack attended A&E, and this was incorrectly reported by an external company, 4ways.
“There was clearly more than one failing in the system, which had disastrous consequences for Jack.
“On behalf of Jack’s family, we will now be pursuing a clinical negligence case against the hospitals that could and should have been able to do more to try to save him.”
Jack, from Stowmarket, received an NHS text to book his jab and he do so as per the instructions. He initially went to West Suffolk A&E with severe headaches and was moved to Addenbrooke’s Hospital on April 11.
A post-mortem showed he died from catastrophic bleeds on the brain after developing a blood clot.
After an engineering apprenticeship with agricultural machinery company Claas, during which Jack had spent six months working in New Zealand, he spent six months working for the British Antarctic Survey, driving a traverse across the ice shelf in Antarctica to drop scientific equipment.
At the time of his death, he was working as a field engineer for Finning CAT.
Jack’s family said he was rebuilding and restoring an old Triumph Spitfire when he died, and he loved extreme sports and music.
He was a black route skier, enjoyed walking, hiking, and camping and shared a passion for motorbikes with his father.
He held a private pilot’s licence in both the UK and the USA and would often tell his family to look out for him as he flew over East Anglia.
