The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) on Thursday confirmed that a person died as a result of the COVID-19 vaccine.

SAHPRA’s chief executive officer, Dr. Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela, said this was the country’s first death causally linked to an individual and Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine.

To date, the health regulator assessed around 160 people who “possibly died” after getting the jab, but it had not seen a positive link to vaccination until now, Semete-Makokotlela said.

Soon after being given the J&J shot, the patient developed Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), a rare neurological disorder that has been identified as a possible side-effect of the jab.