A Swiss-based nursing home that was one of 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 shot, according to reports.
“We are aware of the matter,” an official in the canton of Lucerne told Reuters, adding that the matter has been referred to the Swiss drug regulator Swissmedic.
Lucerne was the site of the first admission of Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, which was mainly administered to the elderly in Switzerland.
According to the local news outlet zeitpunkt.ch, a doctor had not been contacted at the nursing home.
The resident, who received the coronavirus vaccine on Christmas Eve, had previously reacted negatively to the flu shot, the report said.
The person, who suffered from dementia, complained of urethral and abdominal pain on Saturday, the Swiss outlet reported. Later, the resident’s blood pressure dropped and the heart rate increased.
On Monday, the institution did not report the deteriorating condition of the patient, zeitpunkt.ch reported.
The next day, the doctor was informed, but the patient died shortly after, according to the outlet.
Switzerland has received 107,000 vaccine doses so far and expects to receive 250,000 a month from 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 Ministry of Health official said, adding that he expects more cases of these faster-spreading mutations to emerge.
In Israel, a 75-year-old man also died after receiving a COVID-19 vaccination – but his death is said to be the result of a heart attack that is believed to be unrelated to the shot.
The unidentified man was shot by the Pfizer at 8:30 a.m. Monday and was unconscious within hours and died at home in Beit She’an, the Jerusalem Post said.