An investigative team from the Ministry of Health was dispatched to the Moruca community in Region One early this morning to begin the investigations into the death of 13-year-old Joshua Henry, who collapsed and died yesterday shortly after he was administered the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

Just over three weeks ago, Guyana started to administer the US-made Pfizer vaccine to children between the ages of 13 and 18-years-old.

The death of the young indigenous boy is the only fatality that is being investigated in connection to the vaccine locally.

Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony gave the assurance this morning that the investigation will get to the bottom of the child’s death.

“It is unfortunate that this young boy died and we are going to investigate and get to the bottom of it and to understand what really took place and I guess after the post-mortem, we will get a better idea”, Dr. Anthony said.

The Minister of Health also expressed his sympathy to the family of the teenager.

Dr. Anthony said while side effects from vaccines are normal, there is a rare allergic reaction known as “Anaphylactic shock”, which is possible, but it is very rare and could be very severe.

In an initial report on Monday night, the Ministry of Health reported that the child was administered the first dose of the vaccine three weeks ago. On Monday, he was administered the second dose and there was no incident while he remained at the vaccination site for 20 minutes of observation.

However, two hours after the boy returned home, he collapsed and was rushed to the Kumaka Hospital in the region where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.

News Source understands that just before the young boy collapsed at home, he complained of feeling unwell.

The Ministry of Health’s investigation will include interviews with the health official who administered the vaccine as well as with the boy’s family. The post-mortem examination also forms part of the investigation into the death.

While there were reports of other children suffering from various side effects after being administered the vaccine, there were no other fatalities.

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