CDC: Boy Who Died After Vaccine Had Bacterial Infection

A 13-year-old boy who died three days after receiving his second Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine had a bacterial infection that caused his death, according to research scientists with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Preliminary autopsy reports showed that Jacob Clynick of Michigan had myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle researchers say is a rare side effect developed after COVID-19 vaccination.

But the CDC said Clynick, who passed on June 16, 2021, died from a "rapidly progressive and often fatal" Clostridium septicum infection, which was found in his spleen, kidneys, liver, heart, and lungs.

The infection led to sepsis, the CDC said.

Joseph Clynick, Jacob Clynick's father, told the Detroit Free Press he still believes his son's death "had to have something to do with the vaccine. It doesn't make any sense that it wouldn't."

Randy Tashjian, then-deputy chief medical examiner for the Michigan Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine, in emails with the CDC and in a medical journal article he co-authored, argued that he still believes myocarditis was the cause of Jacob Clynick's death.

Tashjian added that whether or not the vaccine contributed "is unknown at this time."

Clynick's death spurred debate over whether children should be vaccinated against the coronavirus.

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