A Swiss nursing home that was among the first in the country to be vaccinated against COVID-19 died later – but officials have not indicated whether the death was related to the vaccine, according to reports.
“We are aware of the case,” an official from the canton of Lucerne told Reuters, adding that the matter was referred to the Swiss drug regulator, Swissmedic.
Lucerne was the site of the first shot by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, being administered in Switzerland mainly for the elderly.
A hospital doctor had not been contacted by the vaccination team, according to the local media zeitpunkt.ch.
The resident, who received the coronavirus vaccine on Christmas Eve, had already reacted negatively to the flu vaccine, according to the report.
The person, who had dementia, complained of urethral and abdominal pain on Saturday, the Swiss outlet said. Later, the resident’s blood pressure dropped and the pulse raced.
On Monday, the facility did not report a worsening of the patient’s condition, reported zeitpunkt.ch.
The next day, the doctor was informed, but the patient died shortly thereafter, according to the outlet.
Switzerland has so far received 107,000 doses of vaccines and expects to receive 250,000 a month starting next year, according to Reuters.
The country has documented five cases of a variant of the UK coronavirus and two cases of a variant of South Africa, said a Swiss health ministry official, adding that he predicts that more cases of these faster-spreading mutations will emerge.
In Israel, a 75-year-old man also died after receiving the COVID-19 vaccination – but his death was said to be the result of a heart attack unrelated to the vaccine.
The unidentified man was shot at Pfizer at 8:30 am on Monday, and within hours he lost consciousness and died at his home in Beit She’an, the Jerusalem Post said.