Woman Dies in Pharmacy Within Minutes of Receiving COVID-19 Booster Shot

Woman Dies in Pharmacy Within Minutes of Receiving COVID-19 Booster Shot

A Canadian woman on Sept. 14 died suddenly in a drug store within minutes of receiving a COVID-19 booster shot, according to her daughter.

Stephanie Foster was texting her mother Carol Pearce when she arrived at a Shoppers Drug Mart in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to get the vaccine.

Pearce texted her daughter at 12:31 p.m. to say she received her booster shot and was waiting the recommended 15 minutes at the pharmacy. At 12:38 p.m., Pearce was unconscious.

An eyewitness told SASKTODAY.ca she was in the store when she heard screaming and crying. “They were saying in the store that it was about seven minutes,” after Pearce got the booster shot that she collapsed on the floor, the witness said. 

A spokesperson from Saskatchewan Health on Thursday said Pearce died from “natural causes.”

“The Saskatchewan coroner’s service has investigated this instance and determined that the person died from natural causes,” Dale Hunter, a communications consultant from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health told SASKTODAY.ca in an email.            

“I do not believe this was caused from natural causes,” Foster said. “My Mom had no health conditions. I believe had she not gotten that COVID shot then she would be here with us today!”

After the incident, Pearce’s daughter made the following post on her social media account:


The family said when Pearce left for her appointment that day, she was happy and healthy.

Drug store ‘not allowed to comment’ on woman’s death

A video was later posted on Twitter by an account that claimed to have a friend who witnessed the event. The account, Heart4Truth, went to the pharmacy where Pearce died and asked questions about the vaccine and its potential side effects.

The employee said some people experience a fever or soreness at the site. The woman pressed further, saying she heard someone had died at the pharmacy two days earlier after getting the shot. The employee didn’t deny her claim but said her manager told her they weren’t “allowed to comment” on the incident.