Death following COVID-19 vaccination: A case report

Vaccines are necessary to reduce the mortality and morbidity of infectious diseases. It has played a vital role in the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Different types of vaccines have been developed to combat the pandemic. Adverse events following immunization including anaphylaxis have been reported for all types of COVID-19 vaccine. Anaphylaxis is common in a person who has a history of allergic reactions. Adverse reactions develop within minutes or a few hours after vaccination. Thus, in India, vaccine recipients are made to stay in the medical facility for 30 min for observation.

Herein, we report the case of a 23-year-old woman who succumbed after 24 hours of taking COVISHIELD ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 Corona Virus Vaccine (recombinant). She did not have any symptoms after vaccination during her observation at the medical facility and did not have a history of allergic reactions. She was brought dead to M.S. Ramaiah Hospital, and the autopsy revealed pulmonary edema. Antibodies to COVID-19, inflammatory markers, serum IgE, and coagulation indicators in the postmortem blood sample were high. The cause of death was attributed to a delayed allergic reaction to COVISHIELD vaccine. Newer vaccines can cause fatal allergic reaction, sometimes later than expected, even when cutaneous reactions may not be present.