Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony has debunked claims that a health worker from Port Kaituma, Region One died weeks after she was administered the second dose of US-made Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

“I heard about this story that someone who was administered the second dose Pfizer vaccine would have developed some signs and symptoms and subsequently died – that is not true,” Dr Anthony revealed during his daily COVID-19 Update on Wednesday.

The News Room understands that the woman called ‘Puni’ was a community health worker and died on January 28. She was fully vaccinated.

When the News Room first asked Dr. Anthony about these reports on Saturday last, he promised to seek further information since he was unaware of the situation.

Now, four days later, the Health Minister explained that the woman was diagnosed with a disease that resulted in her death.

Because of patient confidentiality protocols, Dr. Anthony could not mention what that disease is. He, however, reported that the woman received her second COVID-19 vaccine dose several weeks before.

It is important to note that health authorities have maintained that these COVID-19 vaccines are proven to protect people from experiencing the more severe or life-threatening symptoms of COVID-19.

And following the report of this health worker’s death, a senior health official explained to the News Room that it is unlikely that an individual would have died weeks after taking the second dose of the vaccine.

That official explained that an allergic reaction is perhaps the most extreme side-effect of the vaccine and that would have been observed soon after the vaccine was administered.

The official also explained that if the health worker did experience some adverse reaction to the second dose, it should have occurred after the first dose was received too.