The whole of New Zealand was plunged into lockdown following the reporting of a single Covid ‘case’ earlier this month. But the main response to today’s reporting of a death in the country linked to the Pfizer vaccine appears to be highlighting just how safe the jab really is. Sky News has the story.
The Covid Independent Safety Monitoring Board (CV-ISMB) did note that there were other medical issues occurring simultaneously, which may have influenced [the woman’s] death following her vaccination.
“This is the first case in New Zealand where a death in the days following vaccination has been linked to the Pfizer Covid vaccine,” the Ministry said in a statement, without giving the woman’s age.
The Ministry added the vaccine monitoring panel attributed the death to myocarditis, a rare but known side effect of the vaccination.
Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle that can limit the organ’s ability to pump blood and can cause changes in heartbeat rhythms.
Last month, New Zealand Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Authority (Medsafe) issued a safety alert on myocarditis to raise awareness of the side effect.
All cases of deaths following vaccinations are referred to the CV-ISMB for review.
The board’s Chairman, Dr. John Tait, said: “We want to ensure that the outcomes from this investigation are widely available for others to learn from.
“The Pfizer vaccine is highly effective in protecting against serious illness and death from Covid and we remain confident about using it in New Zealand.”
The Health Ministry has reassured people that the benefits of the jab continue to “greatly outweigh” the risk of Covid and vaccine side effects.
In response, Pfizer said it recognised there could be incidences of myocarditis after vaccinations but such side effects were extremely rare.
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