Courts

Inquest hears evidence about death of 14-year-old from Co Mayo

Mother says her son collapsed at home in September 2021 and was pronounced dead in an ambulance on way to hospital

Ms McGinty said her son was admitted to Mayo University Hospital. Photograph: iStock

Tom Shiel
Tue Jul 18 2023 - 21:23

A 14-year-old schoolboy from Achill Island collapsed and died 24 days after getting his first vaccination against Covid-19, an inquest has heard.

Joseph McGinty, of The Valley, Achill, received the first inoculation at Breaffy House Resort Vaccination Centre on August 20th 2021, the coroner for Mayo, Patrick O’Connor, was told.

He was due to get a second jab on September 14th, the day after he died.

At the outset of the hearing on Tuesday in Swinford, the coroner stressed it was not an inquest into the administration of the vaccine in the Covid pandemic.

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“That may be a matter for the Government at a future date,” he said. “This is an inquiry into the death of one man, Joseph McGinty.”

The boy’s mother, Patricia, told the inquest that Joseph, a second-year student at Coláiste Pobail Acla, began to feel unwell on August 27th 2021 while on a trip to Dublin. He became weak and was vomiting.

Ms McGinty said her son was admitted to Mayo University Hospital where he was refused scans and/or X-rays on the grounds that there was no availability and he would have to be booked in.

She explained her son collapsed at the family home in the early hours of September 13th and was pronounced dead in an ambulance on the way to hospital despite efforts to revive him.

John Paul McGinty said in a statement to gardaí that when he arrived home from Belgium, where he was working, he could not believe that his son, whom he had spoken to only eight hours earlier, was dead.

“I arrived home to find my wife and family very upset and in disbelief that Joseph had passed away,” he said.

Dr Edward King, a GP (now retired) based in Keel, Achill, said Joseph attended his surgery on August 31st 2021 accompanied by his mother.

His mother outlined a history of Joseph vomiting after most meals over a four-month period. He had lost considerable weight. In the 24 hours prior to coming to the surgery he had been vomiting after all meals. He was pale and looked unwell.

Dr King said due to the fact that Joseph appeared dehydrated and the underlying cause for his vomiting and weight loss was not clinically apparent, he referred him to the paediatric service via A&E at Mayo University Hospital.

Dr Fadel Bennani, consultant pathologist at the hospital who carried out a postmortem examination, said the case was difficult and additional opinion was sought from Dr Michael McDermott, consultant pathologist at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, in Dublin.

Dr McDermott’s findings were of profound adrenal pathology consistent with Addison’s disease.

A further witness, Dr Bernadette O’Leary, who had treated the boy, was asked by the coroner if she thought there was any connection between the vaccination and Joseph’s death.

She replied there were 24 days between the time he got the first vaccination and the time he died. Whether the vaccine was a trigger or not was hard to say.

Sinead Curran, director of human products monitoring at the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) provided a statement which was read into evidence by the coroner.

In the statement she said the batch of vaccine administered was tested prior to release for use in Ireland both by the marketing authorisation holder and independently by an European Union official medicines control laboratory and was found to have met relevant quality standards.

Prof Karina Butler, of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, in a letter to the coroner which was also read into evidence, said that while there are published reports of encephalitis/encephalopathy occurring following Covid-19 vaccination, no causal relationship has been established.

She said the possibility of an extremely rare adverse reaction to a vaccine is always difficult to definitively exclude.

“Given the experience with the Covid vaccine, the number of doses administered, the data from clinical trials and post-marketing surveillance, this makes it unlikely that the vaccination was causally implicated in the untimely death of Master McGinty,” Prof Butler stated in her correspondence.

The hearing is continuing.

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