MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican authorities say they are investigating the case of a 32-year-old female doctor who was admitted to hospital after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
The doctor, whose name has not yet been released, was admitted to the intensive care unit of a public hospital in the northern state of Nuevo Leon after suffering seizures, breathing problems and skin rashes.
“The initial diagnosis is encephalomyelitis,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement released Friday night. Encephalomyelitis is an inflammation of the brain and spinal cord.
The ministry added that the doctor has a history of allergic reactions and said that from clinical trials there is no evidence that anyone developed an inflammation in the brain after the vaccination of the vaccine.
Pfizer and BioNTech could not be immediately reached for comment.
More than 126,500 people died in COVID-19 in Mexico. The country began distributing the first round of COVID-19 vaccines to health workers on December 24.
Reporting by Noe Torres; Writing by Laura Gottesdiener; Edited by Andrea Ricci