A Swiss-based nursing home, which was among the first in the country to be vaccinated against COVID-19, died later – but officials did not say whether the death was linked to the jab, according to reports.
“We are aware of the case,” a Lucerne official told Reuters, adding that the matter had been referred to the Swiss drug regulatory authority Swissmedic.
Lucerne was the site of the first shooting by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech being administered in Switzerland primarily to the elderly.
A doctor from the nursing home was not contacted by the vaccination team, according to local news zeitpunkt.ch.
The resident, who received the coronavirus vaccine on Christmas Eve, previously reacted negatively to the flu vaccine, according to the report.
The person with dementia complained of urethral and abdominal pain on Saturday, the Swiss press reported. Later, the resident’s blood pressure dropped and his pulse increased.
On Monday, the unit did not report the patient’s worsening condition, zeitpunkt.ch reported.
The next day, the doctor was informed, but the patient died shortly after, according to the press.
Switzerland has so far received 107,000 doses of vaccine and is expected to receive 250,000 a month starting next year, according to Reuters.
The country has documented five cases of a variant of the coronavirus in the UK and two cases of a South African variant, a Swiss health official said, adding that it anticipates that more cases of more rapidly spreading mutations will occur.
In Israel, a 75-year-old man also died after receiving a COVID-19 vaccination – but his death is said to have been caused by a heart attack believed to be unrelated. with the jab.
The unidentified man was shot by Pfizer on Monday at 8:30 a.m., and within a few hours he lost consciousness and died at home in Beit She’an, the Jerusalem Post said.