Pfizer says it is investigating the death of a Florida doctor who received a dose of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are also investigating the death of Gregory Michael, a 56-year-old obstetrician who had received the injection 16 days earlier.
Pfizer said there is no evidence so far indicating that Michael’s death was caused by the vaccine he developed with German biotechnology company BioNTech.
Manhattan-based Pfizer called it a “highly unusual clinical case” of a condition called severe thrombocytopenia, which limits the body’s ability to clot blood and stop internal bleeding.
“To date, millions of people have been vaccinated and we are closely monitoring all adverse events in individuals receiving our vaccine,” Pfizer spokesman Jerica Pitts told The Post in a statement on Wednesday. “It is important to note that serious adverse events, including deaths unrelated to the vaccine, are unfortunately likely to occur at a rate similar to that of the general population.”
The CDC is also aware of the death and “will assess the situation as more information becomes available,” agency spokesman Tom Skinner told Bloomberg News.
Michael’s wife, Heidi Neckelmann, said in a Facebook post that her husband died of a stroke after spending two weeks in a Miami Beach hospital. She attributed his death to a “strong reaction to the COVID vaccine”, which she said he took on December 18.
“I believe that people should be aware that side effects can happen, that it is not good for everyone and in this case it destroyed a beautiful life, a perfect family and affected so many people in the community,” said Neckelmann in the post, adding that his deceased husband was a “vaccine advocate”.
Pfizer, however, does not believe there is a connection between the vaccine and death based on its clinical tests of the injection and its “post-marketing experience so far,” said Pitts.
The Pfizer vaccine is one of two that the US authorities have released for emergency use as the country struggles to control the deadly pandemic COVID-19. The other photo was developed by Moderna, a biotechnology company based in Massachusetts.
The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.