A coroner has returned a narrative verdict at the inquest into the death of a 23-year-old Waterford man, who became ill and died five days after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine.
Cork City Coroner Philip Comyn told the family of Roy Butler, from O'Reilly Road in Waterford, that the cause of death was a spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage.
In the verdict, Mr Comyn made recommendations surrounding the need to inform the general public of the need to report adverse reactions of vaccines, and who to report those reactions to.
Setting out his reasons as to why he recorded a narrative verdict, he said on the balance of probabilities he could not conclude it was caused by the vaccine.
He said the majority of the medical evidence was best described in the words of Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster as: "I can neither rule in any link with the vaccine, nor can I rule it out".
The coroner recommended that Irish health authorities consider whether an information campaign be taken to inform the public of the need to report adverse reactions of vaccines.
His report also recommended the public be told who to report these adverse reactions to.
It also recommended that Irish health authorities be reminded of the need to ensure that such adverse reactions are promptly noted and reported to "the relevant authorities".
Family to take time to reflect on verdict
In a statement following the verdict, Mr Butler's family said they were grateful for support from friends, family and the public throughout the three-day inquest.
They said they would now take time to reflect on the verdict and the coroner's recommendations.
Mr Butler was described by his family at the inquest into his death last month as a fit, healthy, sporty young man.
He was a talented footballer and went to the gym up to four times a week.
His family told the the Coroner's Court in Cork that, after he got the Janssen Covid-19 vaccine on 12 August 2021, his health deteriorated rapidly. He suffered headaches, sweats and joint pain.
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Four days after receiving the vaccine, he suffered convulsions at home and was rushed to University Hospital Waterford, where medical staff told his family they had never seen anything like this before.
He was transferred to Cork University Hospital, where he was put on life support.
He died on 17 August.
Mr Butler's family believe his death was caused by the Covid-19 vaccine he received five days before he died. They sought a verdict of misadventure.
Senior executives of Johnson and Johnson, developer of the Janssen vaccine, insisted there was no medical evidence of a link between their vaccine and Mr Butler's death.
They argued that a narrative verdict was the only appropriate one in this case.
The World Health Organization has said, up to the end of April 2022, more than 50 million doses of the Janssen Covid-19 vaccine were administered worldwide.
Johnson and Johnson could not tell the inquest into Mr Butler's death who many people had died worldwide as a result of getting the Janssen vaccine.
The company said it had received 60 reports of cases of intercranial bleeds worldwide which had occurred in people who had received their vaccine. Mr Butler was included in this number.
In Ireland, just under a quarter of a million doses of the single-jab Janssen vaccine had been administered, from 281,500 doses distributed here.
The Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Margot Bolster, told the inquest Mr Butler had died of a spontaneous and unexplained intracranial haemorrhage - a catastrophic brain bleed.
Dr Bolster has conducted more than 20,000 post-mortem examinations.
She described Mr Butler's death as baffling: she said that while a causal link between his death and the vaccine he received could not be established, it could not be ruled out either.
