New Zealand on Monday reported what authorities said was the country’s first recorded death linked to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
The information was released by the health ministry following a review by an independent COVID-19 vaccine safety monitoring board of the death of a girl after receiving the vaccine. The ministry’s statement failed to give the woman’s age.
The board considered that the woman’s death was because of myocarditis, which is understood to be a rare side effect of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, the statement said. Myocarditis is an inflammation of the guts muscle which will limit the organ’s ability to pump blood and might cause changes in heartbeat rhythms.
“This is that the first case in New Zealand where a death within the days following vaccination has been linked to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine,” the health ministry said.
The Pfizer media team in New Zealand failed to immediately reply to an emailed request for comment.
The case has been mentioned the coroner and also the reason for death has not yet been determined, the health ministry said.
The independent board, however, did consider that the myocarditis was probably thanks to the vaccination.
The board also noted that there have been other medical issues occurring at the identical time which can have influenced the result following vaccination.
“The benefits of vaccination with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine still greatly outweigh the danger of both COVID-19 infection and vaccine side effects, including myocarditis,” it added.
So far the Pfizer/BioNTech, Janssen and AstraZeneca vaccines are provisionally approved by New Zealand authorities. However, the Pfizer vaccine is that the only vaccine that has been approved for rollout to the general public.
New Zealand is battling a pandemic of the Delta variant of COVID-19 after nearly six months of being virus free.
It reported 53 new cases on Monday, taking the entire number of infections within the current outbreak to 562.
A nationwide lockdown was enforced earlier this mon
