The death of a Florida doctor, who died weeks after
receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, is being investigated by the Miami-Dade
County Medical Examiner, CNN reported.

The medical examiner’s office is working with the
Florida Department of Health and the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) to investigate the death of 56-year-old Dr. Gregory Michael, an
obstetrician/gynecologist.

Darren Caprara, director of operations at the
medical examiner’s office, told the outlet that the doctor received the
vaccination around December 19 and died on January 4. Though the death is not
definitively linked to the vaccine as of now, the possibilities are being explored.
An autopsy has been conducted and the results are being awaited.

Meanwhile, the CDC also confirmed it “is aware of a
reported death in Florida of an individual who received the Pfizer-BioNTech
COVID-19 vaccine about two weeks before passing away.”

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The US Food
and Drug Administration authorised the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for
emergency use in the US on December 11 and as of Wednesday, over
5.3 million people have received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine in the country.

Pfizer told
CNN that it was investigating the doctor’s death.

“Pfizer
and BioNTech are aware of the death of a healthcare professional sixteen days
after receiving a first dose” of the vaccine, Pfizer said in a statement.
“It is a highly unusual clinical case of severe thrombocytopenia, a
condition that decreases the body’s ability to clot blood and stop internal
bleeding,” the company said in the statement.

“We
are actively investigating this case, but we don’t believe at this time that
there is any direct connection to the vaccine. There have been no related
safety signals identified in our clinical trials, the post-marketing experience
thus far or with the mRNA vaccine platform. To date, millions of people have
been vaccinated and we are closely monitoring all adverse events in individuals
receiving our vaccine. It is important to note that serious adverse events,
including deaths that are unrelated to the vaccine are unfortunately likely to
occur at a similar rate as they would in the general population,” the statement
added.