The family of a 39-year-old Utah mother who died just four days after taking her second dose of the COVID vaccine believes her death may be directly linked to the vaccine. But medical experts are warning the public not to jump to conclusions until all the facts are collected.
Kassidi Kurill received his second dose of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, February 1. In the following days, she fell ill and her condition worsened. On Friday, Kurill was dead.
Kassidi Kurill and her 9-year-old daughter Emilia.
(GoFundMe)
Kurill’s father, Alfred Hawley, told Fox News on Wednesday that his daughter “looked healthy as a horse” and “had no known underlying conditions”.
Despite the tragic death of his daughter, Hawley, who is 69 and a diabetic, he still got the vaccine because of the threat that COVID-19 poses to his demographic group. He says he recognizes that his daughter’s tragic death was one in a million.
“It looks like she was the only one who had a terrible reaction,” said Hawley.
Dr. Erik Christensen, Chief Medical Examiner for the Utah Department of Health, told Fox News that Kurill’s second dose of the vaccine and his death are only “temporarily related”.
“We have no evidence that there are any connections between vaccines and deaths at this time,” he said. “We have no indication of that.”
Christensen said the vaccine’s side effects are expected. But how an individual responds to the vaccine, he said, will ultimately be determined by his biology.
“Certainly, there are side effects of a vaccine that are directly linked to the vaccine and what is going on in your body,” said Christensen. “You know, the pain in the arm … the fever symptoms related to your immune response to what was put in you. Those kinds of things happen clearly.”
As of Thursday, March 11, 2021, more than half a million people in Utah were partially vaccinated, while about 340,000 were fully vaccinated, according to data from coronavirus.utah.gov. Utah’s population is approximately 3.3 million people.
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The Food and Drug Administration requires vaccination providers to report all deaths after COVID vaccination to the Adverse Vaccine Notification System (VAERS). In the VAERS database, there are four reported deaths involving Utah residents. One of these four deaths corresponds to Kurill’s age description, while the other three were in their 80s.
The Utah Department of Health told Fox News that the Medical Examiner’s Office “will investigate any deaths in which the COVID-19 vaccine is mentioned on the death certificate.”
“There is no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccines caused deaths in Utah. Reports of adverse reactions and death after vaccination do not necessarily mean that the vaccine caused the reaction or death. Reports of concern are verified and subjected to scientific study. death report to request additional information and learn about what happened and to determine whether the death was a result of the vaccine or not. “
Christensen told Fox News that it is worth investigating cases involving death after the vaccine, but until we know all the results, it is just “speculation”.
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A report on Kurill’s autopsy is pending. According to state law, it will be released to her family. Whether or not it will be released publicly depends on them.