Healthcare

FACT CHECK: Did An Alabama Nurse Die After Receiving The COVID-19 Vaccine?

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A post shared on Facebook over 200 times claims a nurse in Alabama died shortly after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

Verdict: False

There is no evidence an Alabama nurse who received the vaccine has died. The Alabama Department of Public Health put out a statement saying “there have been no deaths of vaccine recipients.”

Fact Check:

The first COVID-19 vaccines in Alabama were administered to frontline health care workers earlier this week, according to NBC affiliate WSFA 12 News. (RELATED: Viral Post Claims A Vaccine Stored At -80 Degrees ‘Isn’t A Vaccine’ And Is Meant For ‘Genetic Manipulation’)

Now social media users are sharing posts that allege an unidentified Alabama nurse died after receiving the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, with some Facebook posts specifying that the nurse was 42 years old and died, possibly from an allergic reaction, after eight to 10 hours. The U.K.’s National Health Service gave precautionary advice last week that people with “significant history of allergic reactions” should not get the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine after two health workers, who have since recovered, had allergic reactions, according to CNN.

While CBS affiliate WHNT News 19 did report that a 54-year-old Colbert County nurse passed away on Dec. 14 from COVID-19 complications, the Daily Caller News Foundation didn’t find any national or local media outlets reporting about a nurse in the state dying after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. The Alabama Department of Public Health put out a statement debunking “multiple posts on social media reporting a death in Alabama of a recipient of the COVID-19 vaccine.”

“The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) has reached out to all hospitals in the state which administered the COVID-19 vaccine and confirmed there have been no deaths of vaccine recipients,” that statement reads in part. “The posts are untrue.”

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a Dec. 10 briefing document on the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine that it had found “no specific safety concerns identified that would preclude issuance of an EUA.” The Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine received an emergency use authorization (EUA) from the FDA on Dec. 11.

The Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center reports at the time of publication that the U.S. has recorded over 17.2 million confirmed COVID-19 cases. Over 311,000 people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19, according to the university’s interactive map.