An X-ray technologist in Orange, California, fell ill and was taken to an emergency room just hours after receiving his second dose of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine earlier this month – and died four days later. , Orange County Register reported.
What are the details?
Tim Zook, 60, looked quite hopeful in a January 5 Facebook post, the Registry said.
“I’ve never been so excited to shoot myself before,” Zook wrote over a photo with a Band-Aid on his arm and his COVID-19 vaccination card, the newspaper said. “I am now fully vaccinated after receiving the second dose of Pfizer.”
It would prove to be his last post on Facebook.
Just hours later, Zook – an X-ray technologist at South Coast Global Medical Center in Santa Ana – had an upset stomach and breathing problems, the registry said. By 3:30 p.m., his condition worsened so much that his colleagues took him to the emergency room, the newspaper added.
“Should I worry?” his wife, Rochelle, sent him a message when, after receiving the news, he told the Registry.
“No, absolutely not,” Zook wrote back, the newspaper noted.
“Do you think this is a direct result of the vaccine?” she wrote, the Registry noted.
“No, no,” he replied, according to the newspaper. “I’m not sure what. But don’t worry.”
The registry said Zook “passionately urged people to take COVID precautions, such as disguising themselves and staying home because ICUs were flooded in December.”
Rapid decline
But Zook’s condition quickly worsened.
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There were suspicions of COVID and a diagnosis of congestive heart failure. Zook was put on oxygen, then – just four hours later – a BiPAP device to help push air into his lungs. Multiple tests tested 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 soon dropped and he was transferred to UC Irvine Medical Center. “I get a phone call on Friday: ‘His kidneys are failing. He needs to have dialysis. If he doesn’t, he could die – but there’s also a chance he’ll have a heart attack or a stroke on dialysis because his blood pressure is so low. Rochelle Zook said.
By 4 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 9, Zook had crossed the “blue code” twice and was snatched from the brink of death. In the afternoon it was a third code blue. “They said that if they got into the blue code for the fourth time, they would have brain damage and it would be a vegetable if it survived,” Rochelle Zook said.
Zook died later that day, the newspaper said.
“We don’t blame any pharmaceutical company”
“We don’t blame any pharmaceutical company,” Rochelle Zook told the registry. “My husband loved what he did. He worked in hospitals for 36 and a half years. He believed in vaccines. I’m sure he’ll get that vaccine again and he wants the public to get it. But when someone gets symptoms 2 1/2 hours after the vaccine, that’s a reaction. What else could have happened? We want the audience to know what happened to Tim, so he didn’t die in vain. Severe reactions are rare. In reality, COVID is a much more lethal force than the reactions to the potential vaccine itself. The message is, rest assured, get the vaccine – but officials need to do more research. We need to know the cause. Vaccines need to be as safe as possible Every life matters. “
Zook’s widow also told the newspaper that she has high blood pressure, but that she has been on medication for years. Zook was slightly overweight but healthy, the Registry added.
“He had never been hospitalized,” Rochelle Zook told the newspaper. “He would catch a cold and get over it two days later. He would get the flu and get over it three days later.”
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His death was reported to the National Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, administered by the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control. The forensic doctor from Orange County said that the cause of death is inconclusive at the moment, and the subsequent toxicological testing will take months.
“The family just wants closure,” said Zook’s cousin, Ken Polanco of Los Angeles. “” Inconclusive “is not a closure. The family wants pharmaceutical companies to do more research – if there’s some kind of DNA that doesn’t work with this vaccine, if episodes like this can be prevented, they have to do everything they can to fix it down. ” […]
The vaccine adverse event reporting system – which warns officials is a “passive surveillance system” and unconfirmed reports of health events that occur after vaccination – has collected more than 130 reports of deaths after vaccine administration by 2021. A total of 1,330 side effects were reported, while over 23.5 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were administered.
Experts warn that drawing a causal line between vaccination and death is often very difficult to achieve. When millions of people are vaccinated – more than 13 million have received the Pfizer vaccine since January 26 and more than 10.5 million have received the Moderna vaccine – some would die for any number of unrelated reasons, in terms of pure statistics.
What did Pfizer say?
A Pfizer-BioNTech spokesman told the newspaper that the pharmaceutical company is aware of Zook’s death and is thoroughly reviewing the issue.
“Our immediate thoughts are with the grieving family,” the company said in an emailed statement, the registry reported. “We closely monitor all these events and collect relevant information to share with global regulators. Based on ongoing safety analyzes 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 unrelated vaccine deaths, are unfortunately likely to occur at a rate similar to that of the general population. ”
The Orange County coroner said he has an open investigation into Zook’s death and will conduct several tests as part of his autopsy protocol, spokeswoman Carrie Braun told the newspaper, adding that the coroner’s office will use its findings to issue a final decision on the cause and type of death.
“If it is established that there may be a correlation with the vaccine, we will notify the OC Health Care Agency immediately,” Braun added to the registry.