Country Singer's Death Not Related to COVID-19 Vaccine

SciCheck Digest

Country singer Jake Flint died unexpectedly on Nov. 27, just hours after his wedding. Social media posts baselessly insinuate Flint died because of the COVID-19 vaccine. The 37-year-old singer received his second dose more than a year before his death, and his representative said Flint’s death was “not related in any way” to the vaccine.

More than half a billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have now been administered in the U.S. and only a few, very rare, safety concerns have emerged. The vast majority of people experience only minor, temporary side effects such as pain at the injection site, fatigue, headache, or muscle pain — or no side effects at all. As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said, these vaccines “have undergone and will continue to undergo the most intensive safety monitoring in U.S. history.”

A small number of severe allergic reactions known as anaphylaxis, which are expected with any vaccine, have occurred with the authorized and approved COVID-19 vaccines. Fortunately, these reactions are rare, typically occur within minutes of inoculation and can be treated. Approximately 5 per million people vaccinated have experienced anaphylaxis after a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the CDC.

To make sure serious allergic reactions can be identified and treated, all people receiving a vaccine should be observed for 15 minutes after getting a shot, and anyone who has experienced anaphylaxis or had any kind of immediate allergic reaction to any vaccine or injection in the past should be monitored for a half hour. People who have had a serious allergic reaction to a previous dose or one of the vaccine ingredients should not be immunized. Also, those who shouldn’t receive one type of COVID-19 vaccine should be monitored for 30 minutes after receiving a different type of vaccine.

There is evidence that the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines may rarely cause inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis) or of the surrounding lining (pericarditis), particularly in male adolescents and young adults.

Based on data collected through August 2021, the reporting rates of either condition in the U.S. are highest in males 16 to 17 years old after the second dose (105.9 cases per million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine), followed by 12- to 15-year-old males (70.7 cases per million). The rate for 18- to 24-year-old males was 52.4 cases and 56.3 cases per million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, respectively.

Health officials have emphasized that vaccine-related myocarditis and pericarditis cases are rare and the benefits of vaccination still outweigh the risks. Early evidence suggests these myocarditis cases are less severe than typical ones. The CDC has also noted that most patients who were treated “responded well to medicine and rest and felt better quickly.”

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been linked to an increased risk of rare blood clots combined with low levels of blood platelets, especially in women ages 30 to 49. Early symptoms of the condition, which is known as thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or TTS, can appear as late as three weeks after vaccination and include severe or persistent headaches or blurred vision, leg swelling, and easy bruising or tiny blood spots under the skin outside of the injection site.

According to the CDC, TTS has occurred in around 4 people per million doses administered. As of early April, the syndrome has been confirmed in 60 cases, including nine deaths, after more than 18.6 million doses of the J&J vaccine. Although TTS remains rare, because of the availability of mRNA vaccines, which are not associated with this serious side effect, the FDA on May 5 limited authorized use of the J&J vaccine to adults who either couldn’t get one of the other authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccines because of medical or access reasons, or only wanted a J&J vaccine for protection against the disease. Several months earlier, on Dec. 16, 2021, the CDC had recommended the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna shots over J&J’s.

The J&J vaccine has also been linked to an increased risk of Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a rare disorder in which the immune system attacks nerve cells. Most people who develop GBS fully recover, although some have permanent nerve damage and the condition can be fatal.

Safety surveillance data suggest that compared with the mRNA vaccines, which have not been linked to GBS, the J&J vaccine is associated with 15.5 additional GBS cases per million doses of vaccine in the three weeks following vaccination. Most reported cases following J&J vaccination have occurred in men 50 years old and older.

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As of Dec. 6, more than 655 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the U.S., and 80.5% of the U.S. population has received at least one dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The vaccines used in the U.S. — Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Novavax — underwent clinical trials before authorization or approval to ensure safety and efficacy against COVID-19. As we’ve previously reported, the majority of people who receive the vaccines experience minor, temporary side effects or none at all — although rare adverse safety concerns can arise. Side effects usually occur within a few days of receiving the vaccine.

But since the COVID-19 vaccines became available, there have been numerous false and misleading claims linking vaccines to the death or injury of famous performers, athletes and world leaders.

Now, social media posts baselessly insinuate that 37-year-old country singer Jake Flint suddenly died just hours after getting married because of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Flint was vocal about being fully vaccinated against COVID-19. He tweeted on April 21, 2021, “Fully Vaxed to the max and ready to make some tracks to Halifax or wherever else. Key West preferably.” He also shared that he received his first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on March 29, 2021, and got his second dose on April 19, 2021, after posting his vaccination card to his now-deleted Instagram page.

On Nov. 29, an Instagram post shared a screenshot of Flint’s tweet above an article announcing his death, suggesting — without any evidence — that there’s a connection. Other posts shared photos of Flint’s vaccine card that were originally posted by Flint to Instagram.

Flint passed away in his sleep on Nov. 27. Although the cause of the singer’s death hasn’t been announced, Flint’s representative responded to the social media claims with a statement to E! News on Dec. 1 that said the singer’s death wasn’t due to his COVID-19 vaccination.

“I am the official publicist for Jake Flint and his family,” Clif Doyal said. “I can verify from them, and from my own personal knowledge, that Jake Flint’s sudden and tragic death was not related in any way to the COVID-19 vaccine. Pending an official autopsy report there will be no further comment.”

It’s also worth noting that Flint received his second vaccine dose more than a year and a half before his death.

Editor’s note: SciCheck’s COVID-19/Vaccination Project is made possible by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The foundation has no control over FactCheck.org’s editorial decisions, and the views expressed in our articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the foundation. The goal of the project is to increase exposure to accurate information about COVID-19 and vaccines, while decreasing the impact of misinformation.

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