A 75-year-old Israeli dies hours after receiving Pfizer vaccine

Health authorities in Israel have begun investigating the correlation between COVID-19 vaccination and the death of a 75-year-old man, who died after receiving COVID-19 vaccine.

According to the Time of Israel, the Israeli Health Ministry announced on Monday (local time) that a 75-year-old man died hours after getting a COVID-19 vaccine co-developed by Pfizer and German biotechnology firm BioNTech. The man received the COVID-19 vaccine at around 8:30 a.m. and left the hospital 30 minutes later since he did not show any side effects. But shortly after he arrived home, he lost consciousness and died. The cause of death was heart failure.

The death has raised suspicions over the safety of the vaccine and Health Ministry Director General Prof. Chezy Levy said an investigation committee has been formed to determine the cause of the death. The 75-year-old man suffered from heart disease and cancer, and had a history of heart attacks.

The Israeli Health Ministry believes that there is a low chance that side effects from the vaccine caused his death. About 500,000 people have been vaccinated in Israel since the country began large-scale vaccinations on Dec. 20. Earlier in the U.K. and the U.S., there were cases, where some recipients of COVID-19 vaccines had severe allergic reaction after getting a shot.


Hyun-Seok Lim lhs@donga.com · Youn-Jong Kim zozo@donga.com