With some social media posts claiming people died after getting a COVID-19 vaccine, some wonder if the vaccine has directly caused any deaths.
WCPO viewer Jim Janszen wrote: “I was wondering if you could ask the doctor if anyone has died from getting the second vaccine dose – Moderna or Pfizer. I heard some people died from it… but nothing in the news."
There have been no reported deaths caused by a COVID-19 vaccine, Hamilton County Public Health Medical Director Dr. Steve Feagins said. Similarly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have not identified a single case in which a COVID-19 vaccine caused someone to die.
Feagins said while nursing home residents have died after taking a COVID-19 shot, the shots were not the cause of death.
“As we vaccinated nursing homes en masse, there is a death rate in nursing homes,” Feagins said. “Yes, people have received the vaccine and subsequently died of other causes, so we very closely watch the death rate.”
Do long-term care facilities who receive the vaccine have a higher death rate?
“The answer is no,” he said. “They've had a lower death rate because they've had less COVID. So while there have been deaths that occurred within seven days of the vaccine, those are looked into, they're evaluated. And we have not, to my knowledge at this time, found any cause and effect, vaccine itself related deaths.”
While the vaccine’s second dose may cause a more robust reaction, Feagins said most people who experience side effects from the vaccine report a low fever, nausea and pain at the injection site.
This month, WCPO 9 is taking your questions about COVID-19 vaccines and posing them to local health care experts. Email newsdesk@wcpo.com or message @KristynHartmanWCPO on Facebook with your name, neighborhood and question, and you could see an expert answer it on air.
