The devastated family of a fit and healthy young actor who died a fortnight after receiving the Covid vaccine have denounced society and the government’s callous “indifference” to his death.
Katie Lees, 34, received her first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine in July 2021, driven by her desire to “do her bit” to help end lockdown.
But just 13 days later his family was forced to make the agonizing decision to disconnect him from life support.
Ms Lees, an actress and comedian who lived in Sydney’s inner west, had suffered a serious blood clot in the brain induced by the vaccine.
‘The last time I spoke to her was the morning of July 22 (and) she said: “I’ll be getting my AstraZeneca this afternoon.” “She told me how proud she was to have done it,” said Ian, Katie’s father. news.com.au.
Katie Lees (pictured), 34, received her first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine in July 2021, driven by her desire to “do her bit” to help end lockdown. But just 13 days later, her family was forced to make the heartbreaking decision to take her off life support.
‘It turned out that was the last time I would talk to her. In reality, she was following the government’s advice and trying to do the right thing for the good of the community.’
Lees, 66, said the hardest part of her daughter’s death was that people didn’t believe the vaccine had killed her and greeted the news with “silence, ridicule, disbelief and disbelief.”
“We were telling people that our daughter died from the AstraZeneca vaccine and they were like, ‘Really? “How do you know?” she said.
In a public submission to the federal government’s Covid Response Inquiry, Lee’s parents said they were irritated by our society’s “indifference to his death”.
“Every morning, our first thought is how Katie died and the feeling that we were used and discarded by our government, by AstraZeneca, and by our society,” they wrote.
They added: ‘Katie didn’t need the vaccine; she would not have died if she had contracted Covid.
“Katie took this action, not because she was worried about contracting Covid, but because she was deeply concerned about the impact of lockdowns on the lives of communities and people’s mental health.”
The AstraZeneca vaccine is estimated to have saved millions of lives during the pandemic, but it has also caused rare and sometimes fatal blood clots.
In April, AstraZeneca admitted to a UK court that its vaccine could, in very rare cases, cause thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, which causes people to have blood clots and a low blood platelet count.
The vaccine, which was suspended in Australia in March 2023, was withdrawn globally last month with the manufacturer citing commercial reasons for the decision.
Of the 14 Australians recognized by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) as having died from Covid vaccines, 13 were from AstraZeneca and one from Moderna.
Just under 14 million AstraZeneca shots have been successfully administered across Australia, meaning
More than 71 million shots have been successfully administered across Australia, meaning vaccine deaths represent a tiny fraction of the total.
Katie’s father, Ian Lees, 66, said the hardest part of his daughter’s death was that people didn’t believe the vaccine had killed her and greeted the news with “silence, ridicule, disbelief and disbelief.” (the two appear together in the photo).
Daily Mail Australia has contacted AstraZeneca for comment.
Ms Lees developed headaches and a rash immediately after vaccination, but doctors thought nothing of it.
A little over a week later, on August 1, he woke up with a severe headache and began vomiting.
A CT scan showed a severe clot in his brain.
“Katie fell into deep unconsciousness around 3pm and never regained consciousness,” her parents wrote in their submission to the inquest.
“Despite this catastrophic brain injury, having undergone subsequent neurosurgery and being on life support, due to Covid restrictions we were not allowed to visit Katie until two days after she was admitted.”
The devastated family said they had been left “emotionally, mentally and physically traumatized by the way Katie died, the lack of support from the government and the pharmaceutical industry and the alienation we feel from the dominant narrative in our society.”
They have called for an apology from the federal government and for more clarity in public health communication about vaccine safety.
Additionally, they want to see “substantial increases in the amounts paid to the loved ones of someone who dies from a government-mandated vaccination program.”
The family who received $70,000 in compensation for Katie’s death said they hated being called “anti-vaxxers.”
They created the Katie Lees Foundation in March 2023 to support female artists and performers.
But a funding body asked her parents to remove a statement saying Katie died from the AstraZeneca vaccine because “they were a ‘pro-vaccination’ organisation”, they claimed.
The Covid Response Inquiry is expected to publish its report in spring.