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Researchers have not found causal links between COVID-19 vaccination and deaths, but a handful of post-vaccine deaths are making headlines.
One such case is the death of Kassidi Kurrill, a 39-year-old resident of Ogden, Utah, who recently passed away four days after receiving the second dose of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
Before her death, Kurrill complained that her heart was racing and was later rushed to the emergency room. Doctors reported that “her liver was not functioning,” according to her father, Alfred Hawley, in an interview with Salt Lake City–based KUTV.
Kurrill died some 30 hours later.
She reported having no significant side effects from the first vaccine dose.
Her family is awaiting autopsy results.
A Miami physician died from immune thrombocytopenia in January after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, but researchers have not linked the death to vaccination.
But outside of vaccine-related anaphylaxis, making a case for vaccine injury is difficult. Some of the deaths could be tied to undiagnosed severe illnesses.
The observed case fatality ratio for COVID-19 itself is approximately 1.8% in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University.
The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database lists 960 deaths among 25,072 COVID-19 vaccine reports. The deaths are not necessarily linked to the vaccines. HHS stresses that VAERS “alone cannot be used to determine if a vaccine caused or contributed to an adverse event or illness.”
The 25,072 COVID-19 vaccine VAERS entries represent a sliver of the approximately 90 million individuals who have been vaccinated in the U.S.
Filed Under: Drug Discovery and Development, Infectious Disease
I received the regular flu shot for the first time about two years ago. Before COVID-19. After I received the shot (the regular flu shot), I began experiencing a racing heart. I attributed my racing heart to the flu shot. I went to my doctor. He did an EKG. It was off the chart. My heart slowly went back to normal on its own; however, about a year later I suffered a heart attack.
When I read about Ms. Kurrill, I said, “Oh, my God.” I had told my family about my experience with the regular flu shot; however, I believe they did not take me seriously. Ms. Kurrill’s death only confirms my suspicions about my own experience with the regular flu shot.
I am not going to knock the COVID-19 shot. It may save more lives than not. I will not be getting it, however, because of my past experience. 960 deaths among 25,072 vaccines is, in my opinion, high, and people should be made aware of the possible consequences. I first saw Ms. Kurrill’s death on my computer newsfeed. When I went in to read the details, the story was gone.
No, you misunderstood. That is 960 deaths (among 25,072 adverse reactions) among 90,000,000 vaccines – NOT 960 deaths among 25,072 vaccines. And, as the article pointed out, the deaths are not necessarily linked to the vaccines. I understand why you do not want the vaccine due to your bad experience, however.
I’m concerned about the reaction to the platelet count and acute ITP!
VAERS does not qualify the cause of death being attributed to the vaccine. It only documents adverse effects after a vaccine dose, that possibly could be attributed to the vaccine. This system is like loose talk and has little use.
An average American woman in her 30s has about a 1 in 500,000 chance of dying on any given day.
If 30,000,000 Americans have been given two doses of mRNA now, maybe 500,000 were women in their 30s given female prevalence in healthcare and education jobs.
Statistically, even without anyone getting a vaccine, we would expect four of those women to have died within four days of having received their second dose.
Deaths happen. You have to aggregate numbers to draw a meaningful conclusion. If we were seeing the chances of death for women in their 30s leap to 1 in 100,000 on any given day, then yeah, vaccine may be an issue. But that is not the case. Not even close.
Before Ms. Kurrill’s tragic death in Utah, I was vacillating whether or not to get the shot. Now I am no longer vacillating and will not get vaccinated for Covid-19.
if something happened to me following a shot, it would be all too easy for doctors to say ‘He was old and had many health problems making it his time to go.”
Then please mask up, both nose and mouth. You remain a risk to the health of others. Vaccines are never 100% effective, so with your personal decision, please respect the lives of others. Even if vaccinated everyone should continue to mask for the foreseeable future. Those unvaccinated have a higher risk of receiving and distributing the virus. Thank you.
The vaccine is overwhelmingly safe.
The Covid virus is overwhelmingly NOT safe !!
It’s your decision – which out of those two – you are willing to take a chance with.
Good luck !!
The article says 960 deaths among 90 million vaccines, not 25,072. 25,072 is the number of reports in the adverse events reporting tool. 90 million is the number of people who have been vaccinated. The CDC says the number of deaths that coincide with vaccination are 0.0018%, and are not necessarily caused by the vaccine.
VAERS received 1,637 reports of death (0.0018%) among people who received a COVID-19 vaccine. For age 30-39 there had only been around 5000 deaths. She got sick right after the shot so its hard to say its not related. The question is for an age group with few covid deaths is the shot worth the risk. As for adverse reactions I know of no one who got the shot that has been contacted by the provider after the shot to ask about adverse reactions so these counts appear to be reported reactions.
There have been a number of deaths following over 90,000,000 doses of the vaccine, and only a few can be linked to the vaccine, yet hundreds of people die from the virus daily.
I have been concerned about the 2 shot series of the vaccine. For years, I have had an anaphylactic response to medications of which I’ve had multiple courses within 6 months of each other (even occurring with a one day lapse in a single course). Having already had my 1st dose of the vaccine (with the 2nd scheduled in 2 1/2 weeks), I’m trying diligently to find a medical provider who will take my concern seriously. I have direct experience with autoimmune hemolytic anemia in both humans and in canines. Sometimes, it has rapid onset; at other times, it takes an extended period to manifest. That, combined with the statement that her liver, and subsequently other major organs, had stopped working makes me curious as to whether Ms. Kurrill could have experienced an autoimmune response set up by the 1st dose and triggered by the 2nd. If I can’t get any sort of solid medical response, I will probably postpone my 2nd dose of the Moderna vaccine, and attempt to get it at one of the 2 regional medical centers in the area. Not being hysterical about this. But, would prefer not to be in that 1 in 1,000 that suffers a fatal outcome. (Nor be one of the nitwits that think the virus is a hoax.) In any case, I hope Ms. Kurrill’s tragic death won’t cause others to opt out of what is the currently best option, not only for themselves, but for society as a whole. 960 deaths out of 90 million makes the likelihood 1 in 94,000.
My neighbor lost two of her cousins (one on fathers side and the other on mother’s side) within 2 weeks of each other. Each cousin died within 48 hours after taking their second vaccine shot. They we otherwise healthy and 60 & 61 years of age.
The vaccine doesnt stop the spread of the virus, it only dampens the effect it has. Therefore telling someone to mask up as they are putting everyones life at risk by chosing not to get the virus is crazy. I am on the fence, luckily i am at the bottom of the list to get one so I will have time to debate it. We arent going to stop the virus by getting the vaccine as it doesnt stop the spread, so really it a personal choice if a person is willing to take the risk of getting struck down really bad by covid, but getting it or not getting it will not prevent it from spreading.
Actually, Samantha, you misunderstand vaccines. They do very much decrease the spread of the virus and dramatically so when effective. In fact, some diseases have been fully wiped out (i.e., small pox) because vaccines produce immunity to a particular virus or bacteria. Vaccines do not “dampen the effect” of a particular organism, they produce immunity to that organism so that it cannot cause infection and is therefore not spread. This unfortunately does not effectively wipe out all viruses or bacteria immunized against for many reasons, i.e. Immunization effectiveness, rates of immunized, individual immune response, viral mutation, etc.
Thanks for the comment, Jason. Just adding one thing – there are different types of immunity, i.e., sterilizing immunity, which prevents infection and functional immunity, which reduces the severity of an infection. From what I’ve seen, COVID-19 are more likely to provide functional immunity and will likely reduce transmission, but scientists don’t really have enough data yet on the subject yet to reach firm conclusions.
I received my first vaccine on March 14. That same day my arm hurt at the vaccine site and the next day my whole body ached and I was a bit nauseous. I took extra strength Tylenol and it didn’t help. The symptoms lasted at least 24 hours. I am nervous about getting the 2nd vaccine. I had covid on New Years and I am afraid I may still have too many antibodies. Any insight to the matter?
Is this shot or shots FDA approved?Are we just mere test subjects (sheep) till we see what these shots do or do notvprovide?not provide? Safe are the shots themself?Can/Will anyone list the ingredients in these shots including black box warnings,the insert ingredients not posters?
Hi Pam, the vaccines have been authorized under FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization program. The ingredients for the vaccines are posted online. We had an article with the ingredients for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines: https://www.drugdiscoverytrends.com/whats-behind-the-severe-allergic-reactions-from-covid-19-vaccines/
Maybe the reason these deaths are recieving headlines, is because that is literally the headline of your clickbait story. Your first sentence says there is no link between the deaths and the vaccine, but your headline definitely doesn’t help get the facts across. You are part of the problem!
I am 54 y/o male and received first Moderna shot on March 16, 2021 at VA clinic. On March 20, 2021 I went to spit and it would only come out of my right side of mouth. My daughter took me to ER at local hospital. The nurse in the front asked me to smile and I overheard him calling the back and saying, “possible stroke patient”. MRI and EKG were good so when I saw my VA primary care physician 10 days later (yep, that’s how long I had to wait to see my doctor) they said it was more than likely Bell’s Palsy. I doubt I will be getting second dose of Moderna. Update: Just spoke with a nurse since today I was due my second vaccine and she told me I have to be cleared by my primary care physician. Won’t be able to see her until April 28. Maybe all this is a sign to not get the shot.