On Monday, New Zealand reported the first-ever death due to the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. The information was shared by the country’s health ministry after a review by an independent COVID-19 vaccine safety monitoring board. While sharing the information, the ministry did not reveal the age of the woman.
According to the statement released by the board of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, the woman lost her life because of myocarditis, a rare side-effect of the Pfizer vaccine. In myocarditis, inflammation in heart muscles lesser the organ’s ability to pump blood and this side-effect may also change the heartbeat rhythms.
The health ministry stated, “This is the first case in New Zealand where a death in the days following vaccination has been linked to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.”
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After the concern related to death was asked by the Pfizer board of New Zealand, they did not reply immediately. The health ministry said that the case has been referred to the coroner and the cause of death has not yet been determined.
However, the independent monitoring board did consider that the myocarditis was because of the vaccination. The board further said that the woman’s body also witnessed some other medical issues, following the administration of the vaccine.
As per the statement by the board, “The benefits of vaccination with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine continue to greatly outweigh the risk of both COVID-19 infection and vaccine side effects, including myocarditis.”
For now, only three Covid-19 vaccines – Pfizer/BioNTech, Janssen and AstraZeneca, have received approval from New Zealand authorities. However, only Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine has been approved for rollout to the public.
The country was virus-free for around six months and on Monday, the country reported 53 new covid-19 cases, taking the tally to 562. To beat the spread of delta variant the government imposed lockdown across the country.