ZURICH (Reuters) – A Swiss person who was among the first in the country to be vaccinated with a COVID-19 shot later died, officials in the canton of Lucerne said on Wednesday, although they did not indicate whether the death related to the Vaccination.
“We are aware of the matter,” a spokesman said, adding that the matter had been referred to Swiss drug regulator Swissmedic.
The canton did not disclose details, including the time that elapsed between the time the person received the shot and when the death occurred.
Lucerne was the first vaccinations in Switzerland last week, with a shot from Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech given mainly to the elderly. Switzerland has so far received 107,000 doses, and expects to receive 250,000 a month from next year.
Swissmedic could not be immediately reached for comment.
An email and phone call to Pfizer was not immediately returned.
Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine is the only vaccine approved so far in Switzerland. It was approved on an emergency basis in the United States and Britain and gained conditional marketing in the European Union after clinical trials in tens of thousands of people in which no major safety issues emerged.
Millions of doses of the vaccine have now been administered around the world. Several people suffered allergic reactions after shots from Pfizer / BioNTech as well as from Moderna Inc, although the incidents were resolved quickly.
(Edited by Oliver Hirt, written by John Miller; edited by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi)