MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican authorities say they are studying the case of a 32-year-old female doctor who was hospitalized after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
The doctor, whose name has not been released, was admitted to the intensive care unit of a public hospital in northern Nuevo Leon state after suffering seizures, difficulty breathing and rashes.
“The initial diagnosis is encephalomyelitis,” the health ministry said in a statement released Friday night. Encephalomyelitis is an inflammation of the brain and spinal cord.
The ministry added that the doctor has a history of allergic reactions and said there is no evidence from clinical trials to indicate that anyone has developed an inflammation of the brain after the vaccine is given.
Pfizer and BioNTech could not be contacted immediately for comment.
More than 126,500 people have died from COVID-19 in Mexico. The country began distributing the first round of COVID-19 vaccines to health workers on December 24th.
Reports by Noe Torres; Written by Laura Gottesdiener; Edited by Andrea Ricci