A Covid-19 vaccine website in Pomona, California, on Friday.
Photograph:
frederic j. brown / Agence France-Presse / Getty Images
California authorities are investigating the case of a person who died several hours after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine last week.
The Placer County Sheriff’s Office and the Placer County Public Health Department were recently notified about vaccination and death, which happened Thursday, according to a statement posted on Facebook by the sheriff’s office.
It is not clear which vaccine the person received or whether the vaccine played a role in his death.
“We are not establishing any links with the vaccine,” said a spokeswoman representing the Placer County Sheriff’s Office and the Coroner Office, adding that an autopsy was planned. “We ask the public to remain patient with us while this investigation continues, so that we can be more clear.”
Spokesmen representing the sheriff’s office, the coroner and the Placer County Department of Public Health said they were unable to disclose further details about the incident.
The person had tested positive for the virus in late December, spokesmen said. Several local, state and federal agencies were actively investigating the case, they said.
Earlier this month, a 56-year-old doctor in Florida died two weeks after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine. His wife said on Facebook that he died of a condition known as thrombocytopenia, marked by a lack of blood platelets that help stop bleeding, after he received Pfizer Inc.
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and BioNTech SE BNTX 2.85%
vaccine. Thrombocytopenia has not been identified as a potential side effect in clinical trials of the vaccine and has not appeared as a problem since health regulators allowed widespread use last month, Pfizer said. Federal health officials are investigating the incident.
Last week, the California Department of Public Health issued a statement recommending that local health care providers stop administering a batch of Moderna Inc.’s
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The Covid-19 vaccine after seeing a greater than normal number of potential allergic reactions. It is not known whether the deceased received one of the vaccines from that batch.
The Food and Drug Administration authorized the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines after they were found to be highly effective and generally well tolerated in clinical trials with tens of thousands of patients.
Write to Sarah Toy at [email protected]
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Published January 25, 2021, print edition as ‘Death of Vaccine Recipient Is Probed.’