The state’s investigation into a woman’s death shortly after receiving a coronavirus vaccine ruled that the shot did not contribute to the fatality but she had COVID-19 and suffered other medical complications.
The family of Drene Keyes, a 58-year-old Gloucester resident who died in January, disputes that determination. They paid for an independent medical examination that Keyes’ daughter, Lisa Jones, says conflicts with the state’s findings.
The private investigation, which included an autopsy, indicated negative COVID-19 test results and evidence of a blood clot that investigators believed was linked to the administration of a COVID-19 vaccine, she said.
Keyes received a first dose of Pfizer vaccine Jan. 30 and died shortly after at VCU Tappahannock Hospital. A report documenting her case in the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System said she began having trouble breathing in the parking lot of her vaccination site about 20 minutes after getting the shot. She then began vomiting every 20 to 30 seconds.
Keyes was treated at the site with epinephrine shots in her leg and arm and medicine through an oxygen mask, according to the report. When medics transferred her to a stretcher to get her in an ambulance, she became unresponsive.