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The death of a man days after receiving the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine is being investigated by the Orange County coroner.
“After we receive all of the additional test results, we will use those results along with the autopsy results to definitively determine the cause and mode of death,” the coroner’s office said in a statement. “If it is determined that there may be a correlation with the vaccine, we will immediately notify the OC Health Care Agency.”
Sgt. Dennis T. Breckner, a public information officer for the Sheriff’s Department, said the investigation could take months.
The Orange County Registry reported that the deceased was Tim Zook, 60, who suffered an adverse reaction hours after receiving a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine on January 5.
Zook, a radiologic technologist at South Coast Global Medical Center in Santa Ana, died shortly after midnight on Jan. 7, according to the newspaper.
Zook’s wife, Rochelle, shared the story with the registry to let it be known that while a full investigation into her husband’s death is crucial, people should still get vaccinated.
“We don’t blame any pharmaceutical company,” Rochelle said. “My husband loved what he did. He worked in hospitals for 36 and a half 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. “
News of Zook’s death comes after Placer County Public Health said last week that a county man died on January 21, several hours after receiving a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The unnamed man had already tested positive for the coronavirus in late December.
“There are several local, state and federal agencies that are actively investigating this matter; any report regarding the cause of death is premature, pending the outcome of the investigation,” a statement from the sheriff’s office said. “Our hearts go out to the family of the deceased.”
Placer County Public Health and Social Services did not administer the vaccine in this case and could not say whether the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine had been administered.
UC Berkeley professor and infectious disease physician Dr John Swartzberg has warned of hasty conclusions until investigations into the two deaths are complete.
“We can’t give people a real answer until we have the autopsy data and find out why they died,” Swartzberg said. “All that was prior to this is speculation. The two events are true, the question is, are they related? Is it true true and related or true true and unrelated?”
Swartzberg said that in vaccine trials there were no instances where the vaccine was found to cause death, and although there was a link between the vaccine and death in these two recent situations, c ‘is something we know only happens “once in many, many millions, not even once in a million.”
“As has been said from the start about vaccines in general, it’s something that once we start vaccinating hundreds of millions of people, when you talk about those numbers, there’s going to be events like this are going to happen, “he said. “The risks are extremely in your favor of getting the vaccine.”
UCSF infectious disease specialist Dr Peter Chin-Hong echoed the sentiment. “We’re still thinking of a risk benefit calculation. Your risk of dying is so much higher if you don’t get the vaccine,” Chin-Hong said.
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