First Man to Get Vaccine Died of an Unrelated Stroke

Misbar’s analysis found these headlines to be misleading, and that Shakespeares death was not related to the vaccine. Shakespeare received the Pfizer vaccine in December, shortly after the FDA had first issued approval for emergency use. He died of an unrelated stroke last week at 81 years old. Shakespeare had been living in the frailty ward of the University Hospital Coventry at the time of his vaccination. 

Frailty is a distinct condition rather than an inevitable fact of aging. The symptoms include weight loss of 10 pounds or greater in a year without intention, muscle loss and weakness. Shakespeare’s condition can be assumed to have been as less-than-healthy long before the vaccination. 

His wife noted that he consistently urged anyone he spoke with to receive the vaccine and felt proud to have been able to have it. She went on to state that the best way to honor her husband’s memory was to get vaccinated. 

Social media users implied that Shakespeare’s death was related to the vaccine. These claims are an example of a half-truth or “cherry-picking” logical fallacy. A logical fallacy is an error in logic used to support an argument. In this case, the half-truth fallacy has been created because key parts of the circumstances surrounding Shakespeare’s death are excluded—only faulty evidence supporting the claim is presented.

The CDC reports that in the United States, which has a population of more than 332 million people, someone has a stroke every 40 seconds and dies every 4 minutes, and that stroke risk greatly increases with age. The CDC also reports that of 285 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, 4,863 deaths were reported, or 0.0017%. These deaths have not been confirmed to be related to vaccines.

Shakespeare’s death is statistically more likely to have occured because of his present and chronic conditions rather than a side-effect of a vaccine he received six months ago.