A woman in China said her husband developed serious adverse reactions after receiving a Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccine, including prolonged high fever and extensive rashes. Doctors said they can’t rule out the possibility that his symptoms were related to the vaccine.
The woman, who is from Beijing and whose surname is Zhang, described her husband’s story in a March 1 post on China’s mini-blogging platform Weibo.
On Feb. 17, she and her husband, who is in his 30s, received their first shots at a location organized by their community. They stayed there for 30 minutes for observation after the injection and went home without feeling any uncomfortable symptoms.
On Feb. 23, however, her husband began to develop small rashes. A day later, he developed a fever of 101.3 degrees Fahrenheit (38.5 degrees Celsius) or higher, and more rashes. At first, they thought he had hives, so he took some medication for it. But by Feb. 26, the fever persisted and further patches of rashes appeared on his body.
The man’s whole body was aching and itchy, and he couldn’t sleep at night, Zhang said.
“[His] chest, back, waist, buttocks, arms, legs, and feet are all covered [with rashes],” she said.
At 5 p.m. on Feb. 27, they rushed to Beijing Luhe Hospital for treatment, but doctors asked them to return the next day.
On Feb. 28, her husband had a blood test, a nucleic acid test, a CT scan, and a biochemical test. All the results were normal.
They paid a second visit on Feb. 29.
“We bore all the expenses on our own during the whole process,” Zhang said. “My husband felt more in pain all the way along. Though doctors didn’t clearly identify his condition as post-vaccine allergic reactions, they expressed they would not rule out that possibility.”
She said that neither she nor her husband had allergies before, adding he was in incredibly good health and rarely fell sick.
She has filed a complaint with her community and Beijing Luhe Hospital.
The hospital authorities replied: “Let’s wait and see until the patient has recovered. Do not seek accountability until he is well again.”
Zhang raised concerns over how her husband’s symptoms could be proven to be allergic reactions caused by the vaccine when he has recovered.
She said: “When we were at the dermatology program, a young man ahead of us on the waiting list had symptoms exactly as my husband did. He, too, developed a high fever after receiving a shot. Worse than my husband’s situation, he got rashes all over his body. Spread up to his neck.
“Our whole family now believes that it was caused by the vaccine.”
In an interview with Hong Kong-based Apple Daily, Zhang said the vaccine her husband received was from the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology and is believed to be developed by Sinopharm Group.
Although the hospital stated that it had reported the incident, and her husband’s health was improving, Zhang said her confidence in domestic vaccines had greatly diminished.
China-made COVID-19 vaccines could cause reactions, as suggested by a notice of treatment procedures for abnormal reactions to COVID-19 vaccines, which a medical advisory team under China’s State Council issued to regional health commissions on Dec. 23, 2020.
The internal document was designated “Not to Be Disclosed to the Public.”
