Covid vaccine – Californian dies hours after receiving jab sparking investigation into cause of death
AN unidentified person has died just hours after being vaccinated against Covid-19 in California and authorities are scrambling to find out why, according to police.
The individual had recently overcome a bout of coronavirus after testing positive in late December, according to the Placer County Sheriff’s office in a Facebook post.
“The individual was administered a COVID-19 vaccine several hours before their death on January 21, 2021,” the statement read.
“The vaccine was not administered by Placer County Public Health.”
The county, which is in the greater Sacramento area, was “recently notified” of the person’s death, police said.
According to cops, multiple local, state, and federal agencies are investigating the case and a cause of death has not yet been determined.
“Any reports surrounding the cause of death are premature, pending the outcome of the investigation. Our thoughts are with the family of the deceased,” cops said in an online statement.
There was no indication which vaccine the person had been given.
The spread of the killer virus in the US to date, as of January 21, 2021
An autopsy would be done Monday, the sheriff’s office told CBS’ Sacramento affiliate.
Further details regarding the person’s death have not been released.
The Sun has reached out to both departments for comment.
On Sunday, the US surpassed 25 million cases of COVID-19, but an influential coronavirus model says the true number is likely much higher. More than 417,000 people have died from the virus nationwide.
About 17 percent of people in the country., or upward of 50 million people, have been infected with the coronavirus, researchers at the University of Washington estimate. They warn the U.S. is likely only identifying about half of COVID-19 cases.
The grim milestone was reached last week, with around 3400 Americans now dying from the virus every day.
The model estimates the U.S. will report another 168,000 COVID-19 deaths before May, bringing the total to more than half a million deaths. In that period, at least 40 states will have high or extreme stress on hospital beds, and 46 will have high or extreme stress on ICU capacity, the model predicts.
The hope is now that a vaccine can provide a route out of the misery.
Biden has said he is aiming to get 100million Americans vaccinated in the first 100 days of his presidency, as the CDC warned “super-Covid” may be the dominant strain by March.
Research showed people given the Pfizer Covid vaccine have up to 20 times more antibodies than Covid survivors.
Doctors looked at 102 staff members who had received both the Pfizer shots to see how many antibodies they had.
Antibodies help fight infection and are produced by the immune system in response to the virus or a vaccine.
When a person is exposed to the coronavirus, the antibodies kick into action and fight it.
Preliminary findings from research conducted by Sheba Medical Center in Israel showed two doses of the Pfizer vaccine produced six- to 20-fold more antibodies compared with people who had recovered from severe disease.
Gili Regev-Yohai, director of Sheba’s Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit said at a briefing: “The results of the survey are in line with Pfizer’s experiment and even better than expected.
“I expect that the survey results of the other employees participating will be similar. There is certainly reason for optimism.”
Two people did not develop antibodies, including one who has a weak immune system, Prof Regev-Yochay said.
The study does not indicate how long the immunity will last or if a person who has antibodies can still carry the virus and infect others, Prof Regev-Yochay said.
Trials of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab showed it was 95 per cent effective at stopping people becoming ill with Covid-19 if they get infected, after two doses are given, but could not show if it stopped people picking up and passing on the virus.
However, Israel officials released data last week that showed Pfizer’s jab cuts infection rates in half two weeks after the first of the twin doses is given.
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Infectious disease expert Dr. Dean Blumberg from UC Davis, told CBS that deaths have not increased due to vaccines, and noted that thousands of study subjects were looked at prior to each vaccine’s approval.
“They might have other things that are basically random,” he said.
According to Dr Blumberg, anyone who is no longer infectious and feels well can be vaccinated, there isn’t a time limit.