COVID-19 vaccines not connected to Port Macquarie nursing home deaths

An investigation into the deaths of two elderly men in a Port Macquarie nursing home — who died in the same week as they had the COVID vaccine — has found the jabs were not the cause of death.

An investigation by health authorities into the recent deaths of two elderly dementia patients in Port Macquarie following a COVID-19 vaccination has concluded the vaccines were not responsible.

The two men, both in their 90s and both residents of the Mingaletta Aged Care nursing home, had their Pfizer vaccination on Wednesday, March 10 and both died within days.

“The two cases were reviewed promptly by the NSW Vaccine Safety Expert panel on 17 March. The panel found that both cases had a common respiratory virus which contributed to their deaths,” a spokesman for NSW Health said.

Both men developed pneumonia and both tested positive to rhinovirus which causes the common cold in well people, but can cause pneumonia in the very old and frail.

Vaccine reactions are investigated by health authorities. Picture: Peter Rae

The TGA said: “The rate of confirmed anaphylaxis reported in Australia is consistent with the rate expected for vaccines in general. Information collected from the global use of Comirnaty (Pfizer vaccine) suggests the rate of anaphylaxis does not exceed the rate expected for vaccines in general.”

There has been one case of a blood clot reported to the TGA. Following the recent pause in the AstraZeneca vaccine in Europe after cases of blood clots were reported, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the United Kingdom’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) conducted reviews of the risk of blood clots in people vaccinated with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

The reviews found the benefits of the vaccine continue to outweigh the risks, and it is not associated with an increase in the overall risk of blood clots. Blood clots were as high in non-vaccinated populations.

“The Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) have been reviewing data from tens of millions of people given the AstraZeneca and other COVID-19 vaccines worldwide,” the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) said on Friday.

“This shows that there is no increase in the rates of general thromboembolic disorders after vaccination over expected rates, noting these conditions occur commonly in the absence of vaccination,” they continued, but as a precautionary measure, they recommended that “vaccination with any COVID-19 vaccine should be deferred for people” who have a history of rare blood clotting conditions which include cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) and people with a confirmed medical history of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT).