ORANGE, CA – An Orange County resident and health worker suffered a reaction and died after receiving his second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, shared by his family. Whether the two events are related is under investigation by the Orange County coroner’s office and state officials.
Timothy Zook’s wife Rochelle shared the news of her husband’s death with the Orange County Register this week in an appeal for authorities to investigate further why her husband died.
Just over two hours after his last vaccination, which he shared on social media, Timothy Zook experienced “a severe stomach ache and difficulty breathing,” his wife explained to the Register. He was admitted to the hospital on January 5 and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Reports say the test was negative for coronavirus and was placed on a ventilator. Timothy Zook died on January 9 at the University of California’s Irvine Medical Center hospital.
Although there are doubts surrounding his death, his wife wants to be sure that he did not die in vain.
“COVID is a much more deadly force than the reactions of the potential vaccine itself,” she told the Register. “The message is, stay safe, get the vaccine, but employees need to do more research. We need to know the cause. Vaccines need to be as safe as possible. Every life is important.”
According to the Vaccine Adverse Event Notification System, a “passive surveillance system”, according to the Register, shows 130 reports of death after vaccine administration. There were 1,330 allergic reactions and 23.5 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were successfully administered.
More than 13 million were vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine by Tuesday, reports the Registry, and 10.5 million were vaccinated with Moderna.
According to Rochelle Zook, the family is not blaming “any pharmaceutical company” for his death. She says her husband loved his family, his job and was excited to be vaccinated.
“He worked in hospitals for 36 and a half years,” she told the Register. “He believed in vaccines. I’m sure he would get that vaccine again and would like to make it public.”
Tim Zook had high blood pressure, which was controlled by medication, she says.
The Coroner’s Office in Orange County is reviewing the cause of death, saying it is inconclusive. It may take months to fully complete toxicology.
Carrie Braun, a spokesman for the Orange County Coroner’s Office, says that if there is any correlation with the vaccine in Zook’s ultimate cause of death, “we will notify the OC Health Care Agency immediately.”
California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly is also investigating the incident.
“The details are complex and deserve further investigation, and that is what we are doing,” Ghaly reported on Monday. “Surprisingly, however, we have seen so many individuals successfully, and without any significant reaction, receive the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.”
Zook leaves his wife, sons Aaron, 30, Jared, 26, and Kyle, 24.