The COVID-19 Vaccine Independent Safety Monitoring Board (the Board) has notified Te Whatu Ora of a fourth death in New Zealand in which a link to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty) could not be excluded.
This is a tragic circumstance, and the Board expresses their sympathy to the individual’s whānau and friends. The Board first reviewed the Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring (CARM) report relating to the death in March 2022, and again in April 2022.
However, at the time, there was insufficient information to determine the potential role of the vaccine in the death. The Board met again in November 2022 to reconsider the case after receiving further information, which showed that the individual had myocarditis at the time of death.
The Board now considers that the development of myocarditis in this individual was possibly due to vaccination with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.