The death of a man a few days after receiving the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine is being investigated by the Orange County Coroner.
“After receiving all additional test results, we will use the findings along with autopsy findings to make a final determination of the cause and manner of killing,” the coroner said in a statement. “If it is determined that there may be an association with the vaccine, we will notify the OC Health Care Agency immediately.”
Sgt. Dennis T. Breckner, a public information officer for the sheriff’s department, said the investigation could take months.
The Orange County Registry said the deceased was 60-year-old Tim Zook, who experienced an adverse reaction after receiving a second dose of Pfizer vaccine on Jan. 5.
Zook, an X-ray technologist at South Coast Global Medical Center in Santa Ana, passed away shortly after midnight on January 7th.
Zook’s wife, Rochelle, shared the story with the Register to get the word out that although a full investigation into her husband’s death is crucial, people still need to be vaccinated.
“We do not blame any pharmaceutical company,” Rochelle said. “My husband loved what he did. He worked in hospitals for 36½ years. He believed in vaccines. I’m sure he’s going to take the vaccine again, and he wants the public to take it.
‘But if someone gets symptoms 2 hours after a vaccine, it’s a reaction. What else could have happened there? We want the public to know what happened to Tim so he does not die in vain. Severe reactions are rare. In fact, COVID is a much more lethal force than reactions of the potential vaccine itself.
‘The message is: be safe, take the vaccine – but officials need to do more research. We need to know what the cause is. The vaccines should be as safe as possible. Every life matters. ”
The news of Zook’s death comes after Placer County Public Health said last week that a man in the province died on January 21, hours after receiving a dose of COVID-19.
The unnamed man tested positive for the coronavirus earlier in late December.
“There are several local, state and federal agencies actively investigating this matter; any reports regarding the cause of death are premature, pending the outcome of the investigation,” reads a statement from the sheriff’s office. “We are thinking of the family of the deceased.”
Placer County Public Health and Human Services did not administer the vaccine in that case and could not comment on whether the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine was given.
Dr. John Swartzberg, a professor at UC Berkeley and doctor of infectious diseases, warned to come to that conclusion until the investigation into these two deaths was completed.
“We can not give people a correct answer until we have the autopsy data and find out why they died,” Swartzberg said. “Everything for that is speculation. Both events are true, the question is whether they are related? Is it true and related or true and unrelated?”
Swartzberg said there were no cases in the vaccine trials that the vaccine caused the death, and even though there was a link between the vaccine and the death in these two recent situations, it is something we know “only once. in many, many millions, not even once a million. ‘
“As has been said from the beginning about vaccines in general, it’s something that once we start immunizing hundreds of millions of people, when it comes to the numbers, there are going to be such events,” he said. “The risks are overwhelming in your favor of being vaccinated.”
UCSF doctor, Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, reflected this sentiment. “We always think of a risk benefit account. Your risk of dying is so much more if you do not get the vaccine,” Chin-Hong said.