US: Doctor dies two weeks after taking Pfizer/BioNTech jab, probe initiated

A 56-year-old doctor from Miami, Florida died two weeks after he received the first dose of Pfizer/BioNTech jab as a part of America’s mass inoculation drive. Dr Gregory Michael, who was a practising obstetrician-gynaecologist, lost his life 16 days after receiving the shot prompting the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to launch an investigation into his demise. As of now, the US has given emergency use approval for two vaccines, Pfizer/ BioNTech’s candidate being the first and Moderna’s shot being second. 

Ongoing probe

The probe is jointly being conducted by CDC, Florida Health Department along with the Miami-Dade medical examiner’s office. Darren Caprara, the office’s director stated that the “exact cause of death is pending the completion of studies being done by the medical examiner and the Centers for Disease Control.” While a direct link to the vaccine has not been established yet, experts have not completely ruled out the possibility of vaccine leading to deaths. Pfizer has also started an independent investigation in this matter and has admitted that the doctor's death was caused due to a "highly unusual clinical case of severe thrombocytopenia", and also hinted that till now their researchers believe there is a very less chance that "there is any direct connection to the vaccine."

Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine candidate was first approved by the UK on December 2 and was followed by US’ FDA granting it emergency use authorisation. It has been taken by leaders across the world including American Vice President Mike Pence, Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu, US Top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, Saudi Arabia's Monarch King Salman amongst others. If the probe finds a successful link between the fatality and vaccine, then it could jeopardise the safety of mentioned leaders too. 

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This comes as Pfizer and BioNTech announced that their vaccine against the COVID-19 virus is effective even against one of the mutations present in the new contagious variants which has been detected in Britain and South Africa. The UK, recently, identified a second ‘more transmissible’ COVID-19 variant linked to South Africa which was spreading at a dangerous rate despite the tiering system put in place, UK health secretary Matt Hancock announced. The release by Pfizer says, “Though these two rapidly spreading viruses are different, they share the N501Y mutation, which is located in the receptor binding site of the spike protein and results in the virus’s spike protein binding more tightly to its receptor. It has been shown to infect mice more efficiently”.

Read: Pfizer Says Its Vaccine Works Against Key Mutations In COVID-19 Variants

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Image: AP