Woman's death not linked to Covid-19 jab - coroner

There is no evidence to suggest the death of an 85-year-old woman was caused by a Covid-19 booster jab she was given days before she had a stroke, a coroner has concluded.

Mohinder Kaur Mahal suffered a stroke before she died at the Royal Derby Hospital on 31 October 2022, 12 days after she received the Pfizer Covid vaccination and a flu jab.

After her death, some of her family raised concerns about a possible link between the Covid jab and her stroke.

But the inquest heard Mohinder had multiple existing medical conditions, and senior coroner Prof Catherine Mason concluded she died of natural causes "as a consequence of these established risk factors".

Her son, Baldev Mahal - who was her carer - told her inquest at Leicester Coroner's Court on Monday that he was "convinced" there was a trigger for his mother's stroke.

He said: "Something's jolted my mum's system to send her down that road."

Dr James Scott, a stroke consultant at Royal Derby Hospital, told the coroner he did not think the vaccination played a part in Mohinder's stroke, adding she "did not have a fair fight on her hands" because of existing medical conditions.

The inquest heard Mohinder previously had a stroke in January 2021.

Mason also noted Mohinder's other underlying health conditions, including type 2 diabetes, heart failure and ischaemic heart disease, put her at a "significant risk of stroke".

In the record of inquest, the coroner said: "On the balance of probabilities, the stroke occurred as a consequence of these established risk factors, and in particular the presence of atrial fibrillation and left atrial thrombus formation.

"Although Mrs Mahal received a Covid-19 vaccination in the days prior to the onset of her stroke, I find that there is no evidence to establish that the vaccination caused or contributed to her death.

"The temporal association between vaccination and the onset of symptoms does not, in this case, establish a causal relationship when considered in the context of her significant underlying comorbidities."

The inquest previously heard proceedings were moved to Leicester from Derby, because Baldev Mahal alleged the previous coroner was "biased", which she has denied.

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