Nurse faints shortly after receiving COVID vaccine, blames oversensitivity to pain

A nurse made headlines this week when she passed out very shortly after receiving an injection of a COVID-19 vaccine, an incident she blamed on a chronic oversensitivity to pain.

Tiffany Dover at CHI Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, TN, fainted reportedly less than 20 minutes after receiving a shot of the Pfizer COVID vaccine. “I’m sorry, I’m feeling a little dizzy,” Dover said during a press conference shortly before she collapsed on the floor.

After recovering, Dover told media that she suffers from a condition in which even modest amounts of pain can cause her to pass out.

“I have a history of having an overreactive vagal response,” she said, “and so with that, if I have pain from anything—a hangnail or if I stub my toe—I can just pass out.”

The hospital in a statement echoed that explanation. “The fainting episode is not an adverse reaction to the vaccine,” one doctor said, arguing that it was “related to her medical condition.”

A "vagal reaction," according to medical authorities, is defined as "a response in your body that causes your pulse to slow down or the blood vessels to expand," often following "sudden fear, severe pain, emotional stress, overexertion, overheating, hunger, nausea or vomiting, prolonged standing, or standing up after sitting or lying for a long time."