ATCHISON COUNTY, Kan. (KCTV/CBS Newspath/WKRC) - An obituary for a Kansas woman says she died after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, but medical experts say that her cause of death hasn’t been determined.
“Right up there at the bar she liked to be close to the cash register,” said John Dove, the owner of Dovenest, pointing out the spot that Jeanie Evans liked to sit.
The 68-year-old Evans was a regular at the Effingham restaurant.
"She was a fireball,” said Dove.
Evans, a former Effingham city council member and beloved local store clerk, passed away on Wednesday.
“I think because everybody did know Jeanie and a lot of people grew up with her yesterday was kind of a solemn day for everybody," said Dove. "Everybody that passed through this door here yesterday spoke of her even today customers are coming in asking if we’ve heard more about it.”
Evans’ obituary says she died at Stormont-Vail Hospital from a reaction to the COVID vaccine.
The hospital said it's too early to know definitively what caused her death.
"A cause of death has yet to be determined," it stated. "Our thoughts and condolences are with the family."
The Kansas Department of Health said Evans was vaccinated in Jefferson County and that during the waiting period after the shot she experienced a severe allergic reaction.
State health officials told KCTV:
The Local Health Department entered the death into VAERS, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, a national vaccine safety surveillance program run by Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Anytime a death or any adverse event occurs post vaccination, the case must be reported into VAERS. This process allows the CDC and FDA to monitor adverse events that could be related to the vaccination. As is standard protocol for any death reported in VAERS, it will be fully reviewed. The VAERS report will help to inform a more thorough investigation that can conclusively identify the specific cause of death of the individual.
The CDC has not identified a single case where the vaccine is the cause of death.
“For those that do want to get the vaccine that throws a certain level of doubt and for those of us who probably won’t get the vaccine -- because I don’t even get a flu shot -- that definitely seals it off to me where I’d probably wait,” said Dove.