Precious Kashmir Desk
Srinagar, Dec 30: A nursing home resident in Switzerland who was among the first in the country to be vaccinated against COVID-19 later died — but officials did not indicate whether the death was related to the jab, according to reports.
“We are aware of the case,” an official in the canton of Lucerne told Reuters, adding that the matter has been referred to Swiss drugs regulator Swissmedic.
Lucerne was the site of the first shot by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech being administered in Switzerland primarily to the elderly.
A doctor at the nursing home had not been contacted by the vaccination team, according to local news outlet zeitpunkt.ch.
The resident, who received the coronavirus vaccine on Christmas Eve, had previously reacted negatively to the flu shot, according to the report.
The person, who had dementia, complained of urethral and abdominal pain on Saturday, the Swiss outlet reported. Later, the resident’s blood pressure dropped and their pulse spiked.
On Monday, the facility did not report the patient’s worsening condition, zeitpunkt.ch reported.
The following day, the doctor was informed but the patient died soon after, according to the outlet.
Switzerland has so far received 107,000 vaccine doses, and expects to get 250,000 per month starting next year, according to Reuters.
The country has documented five cases of a coronavirus variant from the UK and two cases of a South African variant, a Swiss health ministry official said, adding that he anticipates more cases of these faster-spreading mutations will emerge.
In Israel, a 75-year-old man also died after receiving a COVID-19 vaccination — but his death was said to be from a heart attack believed to be unrelated to the jab.
The unidentified man got the Pfizer shot at 8:30 a.m. Monday, and within hours had lost consciousness and died at home in Beit She’an, the Jerusalem Post said.