LINCOLN, Nebraska (WOWT) – Gov. Pete Ricketts on Friday shared some more details about the CDC’s investigation into how vaccination against COVID-19 may have contributed to the January death of a 40-year-old Nebraskan.
Usually, he said, the death of the vaccine is caused by a severe allergic reaction, which is why those who receive the vaccine are usually asked to wait about 15 minutes after receiving it, but it was probably not the cause in this case. case.
“In this case, the person died a week or two after receiving the first dose of the vaccine, so it was not an anaphylactic reaction,” Ricketts said during the press conference Friday morning. “It’s not clear that this person died because of the vaccine list and one of the causes of the death certificate, but that’s why we’re doing the investigation.”
Some information about the death may not be shared to protect that person’s privacy, but officials will try to provide as many details as they can as the investigation progresses, the governor said.
Dr. Gary Anthone, chief physician of Nebraska, agreed that the Nebraskan who died 10 to 14 days after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine was unlikely to have experienced an anaphylactic reaction.
COVID-19 vaccines “have had a very safe profile,” he said. The Pfizer vaccine has recorded 5 anaphylactic reactions per million doses of vaccination and the Modern vaccine has had 3 reported anaphylactic reactions per million doses. That’s the same as the flu shots, as well as the measles, mumps, and rubella shots, Anthone said.
The governor said to date, approximately 165,000 Nebraskans have received vaccines against COVID-19.
“It would be very rare for someone to die between ten and two weeks after receiving the vaccination, so we need this investigation (CDC),” Anthone said.
Speaking more about the vaccine launch, Ricketts reiterated that Nebraska was in Phase 1B, prioritizing those over 65, but noted that there may be some rare exceptions in which someone who doesn’t “fit in exactly in the profile “of the current age group a vaccine. This is because when clinics have some leftover doses, they look to other future priority groups for vaccination so that doses are not missed, he said, noting that there is no list “stand -by “.
In the logging system, providers can notice when they have had to rule out a vaccination dose, but the system is not able to extract that information at this time, said Ashley Newmyer, DHHS data strategy.
Officials would not give details about the doses of COVID-19 vaccine that the state may have had to throw away.
A Douglas County Department of Health spokesman said Friday that DCHD has “ruled out a dose due to a needle failure.” Other than that, he said, the department has a “drop-down list” for additional doses, “so everyone gets used to it.”
Ricketts said the federal government chose 33 of the 43 pharmacies requesting the allocation of retail pharmacy vaccines, he said. The governor was again critical of the federal government’s management of the deployment of the retail pharmacy program, and said the state’s health districts did not have enough spending to start planning this part of the vaccine deployment.
The governor said state registration in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines through local health departments has been faster and more timely than that of the federal pharmacy program. He said officials are working on a plan to use any FEMA aid the state can get to replace volunteers who help test and administer vaccines with paid staff.
WEATHER WARNING: Ricketts also warned the Nebraskans of the extreme cold weather forecast for the weekend and urged them to stay home if they don’t need to go out, or to make sure they have a cold preparation kit if they do.
Check out Friday’s press conference
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