Authorities investigating death of California recipient of COVID-19 vaccine

Last week, Norwegian officials raised eyebrows when they announced that they were investigating the deaths of 23 elderly patients who had recently received COVID-19 vaccine doses. 

Now, California authorities are investigating the death of a Placer County-based patient who received a COVID-19 vaccine dose on Jan. 21. The patient died hours afterward. 

Placer County officials stressed they had not linked the death to the vaccine. 

They are planning on conducting an autopsy. 

Officials in Florida are also investigating the death of a 56-year-old physician who died 16 days after receiving the BNT162b2 vaccine from Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech (NSDQ:BNTX).

Pfizer had stressed that it doesn’t “believe at this time that there is any direct connection to the vaccine” in the Florida physician’s death. 

Separately, the World Health Organization stressed that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is safe following the deaths in Norway. “The current reports do not suggest any unexpected or untoward increase in fatalities in frail, elderly individuals or any unusual characteristics of adverse events following administration of BNT162b2,” the organization concluded in a statement. 

While some medical officials have worried that severe allergic reactions could prove fatal for COVID-19 vaccine recipients, such reactions are rare, occurring in roughly 5.5 patients per 1 million. Such anaphylactic reaction can be treated using epinephrine and intravenous fluids. 

The Phase 3 clinical trials from Pfizer and BioNTech showed that their vaccine was overwhelmingly safe in individuals 16 to 85 years old.   

The Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA) Phase 3 study was open to individuals 18 and older.