Kansas health officials investigate woman’s death after receiving COVID-19 vaccine
UPDATE: ‘No question’: COVID-19 vaccines are safe, health leaders say after Kansas obit claim
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment is investigating the death of a woman who had a reaction after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. A cause of death has not been determined.
Jeanie M. Evans, 68, of Effingham, died Wednesday at Stormont Vail Hospital in Topeka, according to an obituary. It said she died unexpectedly from a reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Until the investigation is complete, it is premature to assign a specific cause of death,” KDHE spokeswoman Kristi Zears said in a statement.
According to KDHE, the woman got the vaccine in Jefferson County and the local health department said appropriate CDC guidelines were followed. The department did not specify which vaccine the woman received.
During the waiting period, she began experiencing anaphylaxis. She was transported to a hospital where she later died.
The local health department entered the woman’s information into the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, KDHE said. The system tracks reactions and deaths following vaccination.
The Centers for Disease Control said a review of death certificates, autopsies and medical records showed no evidence that vaccinations contributed to patient deaths. The CDC said the vaccine is safe and effective.
According to the CDC’s website, “anaphylaxis after COVID-19 vaccination is rare and occurred in approximately 2 to 5 people per million vaccinated in the United States based on events reported to VAERS. This kind of allergic reaction almost always occurs within 30 minutes after vaccination.”
Stormont Vail Hospital spokesman Matt Lara confirmed in a statement Thursday afternoon Evans was taken to the hospital after receiving a vaccine dose.
“A cause of death has yet to be determined,” Lara wrote. “Our thoughts and condolences are with the family.”
Vaccine-related deaths are generally quite rare. A medical study published in 2015 said they are among the safest and most rigorously tested products used in the health care industry. The same study also found that during 2014 and 2015 many claims of vaccine-related deaths were later discovered to be false.
The issue was raised during the University of Kansas Health System’s daily COVID-19 briefing Wednesday morning. They noted that most obituaries are written by family members and were hesitant to believe that a medical examiner would list the vaccine as the cause of death on a death certificate.
In a release sent out after the briefing, the health system recounted panelists said “COVID-19 has killed millions, but the vaccines will save billions.”
According to the obituary, Evans was a member of the Effingham City Council and had three sons, two daughters and 15 grandchildren.
Effingham Mayor Harvey Fasse told The Star Evans was appointed to fill a vacant position on the council and had served for a few months. She brought a woman’s perspective to the table, he said, adding that there hadn’t been a woman on the council in a while.
“It’s just a tragic situation,” Fasse said. “It’s a real tragedy that this did happen.”
In Kansas, more than 1 million doses have been administered.
More than 130 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Star’s Bill Lukitsch contributed reporting.
This story was originally published March 25, 2021 at 1:27 PM.
