New Zealand has reported its first death linked to the Pfizer vaccine after a woman suffered a rare side effect.
The country’s health ministry said the COVID-19 Vaccine Independent Safety Monitoring Board (CV-ISMB) has considered that the woman’s death was caused by inflammation of the heart muscle which was “probably due to vaccination”.
However, the case has been referred to the coroner and the official cause of death has not yet been determined.
The CV-ISMB did note that there were other medical issues occurring simultaneously, which may have influenced her 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-19 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.
