Sandra Jacobs, Saleswoman

The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine brought about the April 21 death of Tatum Strieter-Byron’s mother, 60-year-old Sandra Jacobs of Saline, a grandmother, a friend, an employee.

Rationalizing or logically explaining this as rare doesn’t help Strieter-Byron, who still finds herself picking up the phone, without even thinking, to contact the first person she always called or texted with important news: her mother.

“She was a real person. She is not a piece of just like fictitious political propaganda, where they’re saying it doesn’t exist. It’s not true. It does exist. She was a real person with a real life.”

Jacobs died 13 days following the time she received the single-shot at a CVS pharmacy on April 8, just five days prior to the federal health agencies temporarily paused the vaccine administration while they examined an unusual blood-clotting disorder.

Michigan Medicine pathologist Dr. Michael Caplan completed the autopsy report On Sept. 20.

Jacobs “appears to have succumbed” to a “rare but nevertheless documented” complication associated with the viral vector vaccine, cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, he wrote in the summary.

According to Yale Medicine, the condition is characterized by a blood clot in the venous sinuses, part of the brain’s blood drainage system. This brought about “hemorrhagic cerebral infarct,” or stroke caused by brain bleeding, and brain swelling, Caplan wrote.

The death certificate, just obtained after some difficulty by Strieter-Byron, lists the cause as “complications of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis” and “recent administration” of a COVID-19 vaccine as the contributing condition.

Caplan deemed the manner of death “natural.” It may also be considered a “therapeutic complication” since this is a known vaccine issue, he wrote. Under “final diagnosis,” Caplan first listed the vaccine shot.

Efforts to speak with Caplan were unsuccessful. “In conjunction with the Washtenaw County Health Department, we have decided not to have Dr. Caplan or the medical examiner’s office provide comment on the case,” Dr. Allecia Wilson, the county’s chief medical examiner, wrote in an email. Susan Ringler-Cerniglia, spokesperson for the health department, said the department does not have further information on the case. She extended sympathies to Jacobs’ family. “Our hearts certainly go out” to them, she said.

Although, Johnson & Johnson did not respond to a request for comment. A doctor with the manufacturer’s COVID vaccine safety team called a reporter, but only to obtain Strieter-Byron’s information. She had not heard from the doctor as of Friday, Oct. 15.

There have been three other confirmed deaths of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) after patients received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, administered to more than 15 million people in the United States, According to the CDC. Thrombosis happens when blood clots block blood vessels; Thrombocytopenia is a condition with which patients have low blood platelet counts, the CDC reports.

At work, Jacobs was beloved, said Fullerton, a purchasing agent. She always sported a smile, would talk to the production staff, and engendered customers’ trust. She was honest. “Told it like it was,” Fullerton said.

“She was such a warm soul. Every interaction was funny, caring, and genuine,” one co-worker wrote in an online tribute.

Like a true saleswoman, Jacobs had the “gift of gab,” her daughter said. Throughout her career, she had worked her way up in different roles and places. “If you owned oceanfront property, she could sell you water. She literally could.”

Employees at the manufacturer designated a garden for Jacobs. There is also a stone and a small bench to the left of the front entrance. Initially, it was hard to even enter the building, Fullerton said.