An elderly Queensland woman has died less than three hours after receiving her coronavirus vaccine.
Authorities have confirmed the 82-year-old got the Pfizer jab and was found unresponsive a few hours after getting it in the Springwood aged care home.
An investigation will be launched into the woman’s death to see what role, if any, the vaccine played.
News Corp reports the victim had underlying health conditions, including lung cancer.
Federal Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said they will be looking at all angles but added there are hundreds of people who die in aged care every week.
Credit: PA
He said: “It is inevitable, as the head of the TGA has noted, that this will include people who have recently been vaccinated.
“Any event that happens following vaccination is fully investigated. The medical experts and the TGA will review the specifics of such cases and reach a conclusion based on the facts.
“It can be expected that older and more frail people in an aged care setting may pass away due to progression of underlying disease or natural causes, this does not mean the vaccine has contributed to this.”
Queensland Police are preparing a report for the coroner and they haven’t deemed the death as suspicious.
Due to the recent outbreak of cases in Queensland, aged care homes are still in a state of partial lockdown, which won’t be lifted until April 15.
Federal authorities have been concerned about the elderly population in regards to the vaccine rollout, however there haven’t been any large scale issues in Australia or overseas so far.
Chief Kelly said they are in regular contact with international bodies and would have been informed if there was any reason why they shouldn’t be issuing the vaccine to older people.
“The TGA will continue to monitor the safety of COVID-19 vaccines as they are rolled out in Australia and internationally,” he said.
“As with any other reported case it is investigated although at this stage there are no signs of any causal link.”
Australia has administered a little less than one million doses of Covid-19 vaccines across the country and they are hoping to increase their efforts to make up for a slow initial rollout.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt is confident they will able to vaccinate the rest of the country soon.
He added: “Significantly, we see with our aged care, we’re now at 969 clinics which have been conducted in residential aged care facilities for first doses and another 390 for second doses, with significant numbers being carried out today and during the course of the rest of the week.
