A staff member used a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine needle and ampoule to prepare a dose at a vaccination health center in Cardiff, South Wales, on December 8, 2020. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP by Getty Images)
TO Newsroom
UPDATED 12:10 PM PT – Sunday, January 24, 2021
A California resident who tested positive for COVID-19 in December died after receiving a vaccine. The individual died on Thursday in Placer County, California, a few hours after receiving the coronavirus vaccine.
They reportedly contracted the virus in December and, despite the CDC’s recommendation not to be vaccinated within 90 days of a positive test, received the vaccine.
Although it is not clear what COVID-19 vaccine the patient received, health officials said people should not be too quick to blame the vaccine for death.
“We know that severe allergic reactions that occur after immunization, the vast majority of which occur 15-30 minutes after immunization, so something that occurred a few hours later is probably not the severe allergic reaction, anaphylaxis, that we worry about.” said Dr. Dean Blumberg, an infectious disease expert at UC Davis Children’s Hospital.
New @CDCMMWR describes a small number of reports of severe allergic reactions after people received Moderna # COVID-19 vaccine. Suppliers administering COVID-19 vaccines should examine the recipients and need supplies and staff trained to manage these reactions. https://t.co/jm4TOHGwEP pic.twitter.com/gQbuxV3eJc
– CDC (@CDCgov) January 22, 2021
Authorities said several agencies are investigating the death.