ORANGE, CA – An Orange County resident and health care worker received a reaction and died after receiving his second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, his family shared. The investigation into the two incidents is being investigated by the Orange County Coroner’s Office and government officials.
Timothy Zook’s wife, Rochelle, this week shared the news of her husband’s death with the Orange County Registry in a plea for officials to further investigate why her husband died.
Just over two hours after his final vaccination, which he shared on social media, Timothy Zook ” had a serious stomach and was struggling to breathe ”, his wife explained to the Register. He was admitted to the hospital on January 5 and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. According to reports, he tested negative for coronavirus and was placed in a ventilator. Timothy Zook died on Jan. 9 at Irvine Medical Center Hospital at the University of California.
Although questions surround his death, his wife wants to make sure he does not die in vain.
“COVID is a much more lethal force than the reactions of the potential vaccine itself,” she told the Register. “The message is: be safe, take the vaccine, but officials need to do more research. We need to know the cause of it. The vaccines need to be as safe as possible. Every life is important.”
According to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, a ‘passive surveillance system’, according to the Registry, shows 130 reports of death after vaccination. There were 1330 allergic reactions, and 23.5 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were successfully administered.
More than 13 million have been vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine since Tuesday, the Register reports, and 10.5 have been vaccinated with Moderna.
According to Rochelle Zook, the family does not blame a pharmaceutical company for his death. ‘She says her husband loved his family, he works and was excited to be vaccinated.
“He worked in hospitals for 36 1/2 years,” she told the Register. “He believed in vaccines. I’m sure he’s going to take the vaccine again, and he wants the public to take it.”
Tim Zook did have high blood pressure controlled by medication, she says.
Coroner’s Office of Orange County is investigating the cause of death and says it is unconvincing. It can take months before they complete the toxicology.
Carrie Braun, spokeswoman for the Orange County Coroner’s Office, says if there is a link to the vaccine in the ultimate cause of Zook’s death, “we will notify the OC Health Care Agency immediately.”
The Secretary of Health and Human Services in California, dr. Mark Ghaly, is also investigating the incident.
“The details are complex and worthy of further investigation, and that is what we are doing,” Ghaly reported Monday. “Overwhelmingly, though, we have seen so many individuals successfully, and without any significant reactions, they are receiving the vaccine Moderna and Pfizer.”
Zook is survived by his wife, sons Aaron (30), Jared (26) and Kyle (24).