In both cases, medical professionals do not believe that the deaths were connected to the vaccines.
Hadassah University Medical Center explained that the 88-year-old suffered from complicated and severe background illnesses.
The 75-year-old man who died on Monday also had preexisting conditions and had suffered from heart attacks in the past, according to the Health Ministry.
According to reports, the 75-year-old was inoculated at around 8:30 a.m. at a Clalit Health Services clinic. He stayed at the facility, as is customary, for a short period of time to ensure he had no side effects. When he felt well, the clinic released him.
The initial findings do not show a link between the man’s death and his vaccination, Levy said.
When Pfizer presented its safety data to the US Food and Drug Administration in early December, it was found that two trial participants had died after receiving the vaccine. One of the deceased was immunocompromised, meaning the person’s immune defenses were low.
In response to the report of those deaths, Israel’s Midaat Association said when vaccines are administered to at-risk populations, “there may be unfortunate cases. One should not infer from this about the safety of the vaccine, but welcome the transparency required from the pharma companies in the drug approval process.”
In large trials of tens of thousands of people, death can occur without any connection to the trial, but companies such as Pfizer are required to report those deaths, Midaat said at the time.
Conspiracy theories surrounding side effects and claimed dangers of the newly released coronavirus vaccines have spread rapidly throughout social media.
The main side effects reported in the trials of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were pain, swelling and redness at the site of injection and chills, tiredness and headaches. But these effects usually only lasted a few hours or days at most.
Any potential longer-term side effects are still unverified, as the vaccines are still new. However, the majority of health officials have said they believe the vaccines will cause no long-term harm. In Israel, more than 80% of medical personnel are expected to be inoculated.
As of Wednesday morning, Israel had vaccinated 650,000 citizens with the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine. According to Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, nearly 152,000 people were vaccinated on Tuesday.
Currently, Israel is vaccinating medical personnel, people over the age of 60 and those with chronic illnesses. It hopes to begin vaccinating teachers and school staff later this week or next.
Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman contributed to this report.