Katie told her father she was going to get the Covid vaccine. He had no idea it would be their last conversation ever

The devastated family of a fit and healthy young actor who died a fortnight after taking a Covid vaccine have called out the callous ‘indifference’ of society and the government until her death.

Katie Lees, 34, took the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine in July 2021, driven by her desire to ‘do her bit’ to end the lockdown.

But just thirteen days later, her family was forced to make the harrowing decision to cut off her life support.

Ms Lees, an actor and comedian who lived in Sydney’s west, had suffered a serious vaccine-induced blood clot in her brain.

“The last time I ever spoke to her was the morning of July 22 (and) she said, ‘I’m getting my AstraZeneca this afternoon.’ She told me how proud she was for doing this,” Katie’s father, Ian, said news.com.au.

‘It turned out to be the last time I would ever speak to her. She actually followed the government’s advice and tried to do the right thing in the interests of the community.”

Mr Lees, 66, said the hardest thing about his daughter’s death was that people did not believe the vaccine had killed her and met the news with “silence, ridicule, discredit and disbelief”.

‘We told people our daughter died from the AstraZeneca vaccine and they said, “Oh really? How do you know?,” he said.

In a public submission to the federal government’s Covid Response Inquiry, Ms Lee’s parents said they were annoyed by our society’s “indifference to her 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 wouldn’t have died if she’d gotten Covid.

‘Katie took this action not because she was worried about catching Covid, but because she was deeply concerned about the impact of lockdowns on the lives of communities and the mental health of individuals.’

The AstraZeneca vaccine is estimated to have saved millions of lives during the pandemic, but it also caused rare and sometimes fatal blood clots.

In April, AstraZeneca admitted in a British court that its vaccine could in very rare cases lead to thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, which causes people to have blood clots and low platelet counts.

The vaccine, which was discontinued in Australia in March 2023, was withdrawn globally last month, with the manufacturer citing commercial reasons for the decision.

Of the fourteen Australians recognized by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) as having died from Covid vaccines, thirteen were from AstraZeneca and one from Moderna.

Just under 14 million AstraZeneca jabs have been successfully administered across Australia, which means

More than 71 million jabs have been successfully administered across Australia, meaning vaccine deaths account for a tiny fraction of the total.

Katie’s father Ian Lees, 66, said the hardest thing about his daughter’s death was that people didn’t believe the vaccine had killed her and met the news with ‘silence, ridicule, discredit and disbelief’ (the two are standing together in the photo)

Daily Mail Australia contacted AstraZeneca for comment.

Ms Lees developed a headache and rash immediately after her vaccination, but the doctors thought nothing of it.

Just over a week later, on August 1, she woke up with a severe headache and began vomiting.

A CT scan showed a serious clot in her brain.

“Katie fell into deep unconsciousness around 3 p.m. and never regained consciousness,” her parents wrote in their submission to the study.

‘Despite this catastrophic brain injury, subsequent neurosurgery and being on life support, due to Covid restrictions we were only allowed to visit Katie two days after she was admitted.’

The devastated family said they were ’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 mainstream narrative in our society’.

They have called for an apology from the federal government and for more clarity in public health communications about vaccine safety.

In addition, they want to see “substantial increases in the amounts paid to the loved ones of someone who dies as a result of a government-mandated vaccination program.”

The family who received $70,000 in compensation for Katie’s death said they hated being labeled ‘anti-vaxxers’.

They founded 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-vaccine’ organisation”, they claimed.

The Covid Response Inquiry is expected to publish its report in the spring.