California healthcare worker dies after second dose of COVID vaccine, investigations underway – East Bay Times

Tim Zook’s last Facebook post was brimming with optimism. “Never been so excited to have a photo before,” he wrote on Jan.5, above a photo of the bandage on his arm and his COVID-19 vaccination card. “I am now fully vaccinated after receiving my second dose of Pfizer.”

Zook, 60, was a radiology technologist at South Coast Global Medical Center in Santa Ana. A few hours later, he had an upset stomach and difficulty breathing. At 3:30 p.m., it was so bad that his co-workers took him back to the emergency room. “Should I be worried?” his wife, Rochelle, texted when she heard the news. “No, absolutely not,” he replied. “Do you think this is a direct result of the vaccine?” she typed. “No, no,” he said. “I do not know what. But do not worry.

There was suspicion of COVID and a diagnosis of congestive heart failure. Zook was put on oxygen, then – just four hours later – a BiPAP machine to help push air into the lungs. Several tests have come back negative for COVID.

Shortly after midnight on January 7, the hospital called. Zook was in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator to help him breathe. But his blood pressure quickly dropped and he was transferred to UC Irvine Medical Center. “Friday I get a call, ‘His kidneys are failing. He must be on dialysis. Otherwise he could die – but there is also a chance that he will have a heart attack or stroke on dialysis because his blood pressure is so low, ”said Rochelle Zook.

By 4 a.m. on Saturday, January 9, Zook had gone “code blue” twice and had been pulled to the brink of death. There was a third code blue in the afternoon. “They said if he went code blue a fourth time he would have brain damage and be a vegetable if he survived,” Rochelle Zook said.

Later that day, Tim Zook passed away.

Reaction? But no blame

“We don’t blame any pharmaceutical company,” said Rochelle Zook, an Orange resident. “My husband loved what he did. He worked in hospitals for 36 1/2 years. He believed in vaccines. I’m sure he would take this vaccine again and he would want the public to take it.

“But when someone has symptoms two and a half hours after a vaccine, it’s a reaction. What else could have happened? We would like the public to know what happened to Tim, so he did not die in vain. Severe reactions are rare. In reality, COVID is a much more lethal force than the reactions of the potential vaccine itself.

“The message is, be careful, take the vaccine – but officials need to do more research. We need to know the cause. Vaccines should be as safe as possible. Every life counts. “

Zook had high blood pressure, but it had been controlled with medication for years, she said. He was slightly overweight, but in fairly good health. “He had never been hospitalized. He would catch a cold and recover two days later. The flu, and be done three days later, ”she said.

Her death was reported to the National Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, managed by the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control. The Orange County coroner said the cause of death was inconclusive at this time and further toxicology tests would take months.

“The family just wants the closure,” said Zook’s cousin Ken Polanco of Los Angeles. “’Inconclusive’ is not a closure. The family want the drug companies to do more research – if there is some kind of DNA that doesn’t work with this vaccine, if episodes like this can be prevented, they need to do what they can to it. determine.

Other deaths after vaccination

Zook’s death follows a doctor from Florida who died on January 3, weeks after receiving his first injection of Pfizer. Gregory Michael, a 56-year-old obstetrician and gynecologist in Miami Beach, suffered from Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a rare immune disorder in which blood does not clot normally. His death is under investigation.

In California, Placer County officials said a man died shortly after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine on January 21. They did not identify the vaccine or the person, but said he tested positive for COVID in late December and the vaccine was not being donated by the Placer County Public Health Department. Facebook posts indicate the man was a 56-year-old assistant at a senior citizen facility. This death is also under investigation.

The vaccine adverse event reporting system – which officials warn is a “passive surveillance system” and represents unverified reports of health events occurring after vaccination – has gathered more than 130 reports of deaths after vaccination. administration of the vaccine so far in 2021. A total of 1330 adverse reactions have been reported, while over 23.5 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been administered.

Experts warn that it is often very difficult to draw a causal line between vaccination and death. When millions of people are vaccinated – more than 13 million received the Pfizer vaccine as of January 26 and over 10.5 million received the Moderna vaccine – some would die for a number of unrelated reasons, purely statistical. .

Each year in the United States, more than 2.8 million people die. That averages over 7,800 deaths per day, according to CDC data.

“No prescription drug or biological product, such as a vaccine, is completely free from side effects. Vaccines protect many people from dangerous diseases, but vaccines, like drugs, can cause side effects, a small percentage of which can be serious, ”says the Department of Health and Human Services in its introduction to the data. VAERS. “About 85-90% of reports of vaccine-related adverse events are relatively minor events, such as fevers or redness and swelling at the injection site. The remaining reports (less than 15%) describe serious events, such as hospitalizations, fatal illnesses or deaths. Serious event reports are of most concern and are subject to careful review by VAERS staff.

“It is important to note that for any reported event, no cause and effect relationship has been established. The event may have been related to an underlying disease or condition, to medications taken at the same time, or may have happened by chance. “

Pfizer-BioNTech probe

A spokesperson for Pfizer-BioNTech said the company is aware of Zook’s death and is looking into the matter in depth.

“Our immediate thoughts are with the bereaved family,” the company said in an emailed statement. “We are closely monitoring all of these events and collecting relevant information to share with global regulatory authorities. Based on ongoing safety reviews by Pfizer, BioNTech, and health authorities, (the vaccine) maintains a positive benefit-risk profile for the prevention of COVID-19 infections. Serious adverse events, including non-vaccine related deaths, are unfortunately likely to occur at a rate similar to that of the general population. “

The Orange County coroner has opened an inquest into Zook’s death and will perform additional testing as part of his autopsy protocol, spokeswoman Carrie Braun said. He will use these results, along with the results of the autopsy, to definitively determine the cause and mode of death. “If it is determined that there may be a correlation with the vaccine, we will immediately notify the OC Health Care Agency,” she said.

The FDA has said it takes all reports of vaccine-related adverse events seriously and, along with the CDC, “is actively engaged in monitoring the safety” of COVID-19 vaccines administered under authorization for use. emergency.

“All reports of deaths from vaccine administration are promptly and rigorously investigated jointly by the FDA and CDC,” he said in an emailed statement. “Such an investigation includes working with health care providers to obtain a medical history and clinical follow-up information.”

Mark Ghaly, California secretary of health and human services, said the state was also reviewing these incidents. He sends his condolences to those who have lost loved ones, but supports the scientific conclusion that vaccines are safe.

“The details are complex and deserve further investigation, and that is what we are doing now,” Ghaly said Monday, Jan. 25, following Placer’s death. “The overwhelming majority, however, have seen so many people successfully, and without any significant reactions, receive Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.”

The results of state polls will be shared publicly, Ghaly said, with “lessons learned.” This is the key to continuing to build confidence in vaccines “and to get us to the other side of this pandemic,” he said.

Caring and generous man

Zook was a man who passionately urged people to adopt COVID precautions such as masking themselves and staying at home as the ICUs flooded in December. He loved food, posting photos of country zucchini, thick steaks, sumptuous Sunday breakfasts, wine tastings in Sonoma.

He shared memes calling for calm on Election Day, quoting Lincoln as saying, “We are not enemies, but friends,” and was moved to share the speech President John F. Kennedy was never able to. say: “Let us not quarrel among ourselves when the future of our nation is at stake. Let us stand united with renewed confidence in our cause – united in our heritage of the past and our hopes for the future – and determined that this land we love will lead all humanity to new frontiers of peace and abundance. “