WELLINGTON – New Zealand has reported its first death linked to the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine after a woman succumbed to a rare side effect.
Reports in international media quoting the country’s vaccine monitoring board said the woman died most likely due to ‘myocarditis’ – an inflammation of the heart muscle. However, the official cause of death has yet to be determined.
It also mentioned that “there were other medical issues which could have influenced the outcome following vaccination”. Officials have not released any further details as further investigations are underway.
A statement from the ministry cited “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 while the Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring has received other reports of deaths in someone recently vaccinated, none are considered related to vaccination”.
The officials further said that they remain confident about using the Pfizer vaccine in New Zealand as of now.
On the other hand, the pharma giant Pfizer said “such side effects were extremely rare and that the company takes adverse events that are potentially associated with our vaccine very seriously”.
Meanwhile, the news comes as the Oceanian country struggles to deal with an outbreak of the delta variant of the deadly virus after recording no cases for around six months.
The country garnered international praise for its handling of the virus but has since seen a slow roll-out of vaccination.
