Wellington, NZ – New Zealand reported its first death recorded that is linked to US drugmaker Pfizer COVID-19 on Monday, according to the health ministry on Monday.
The woman who was vaccinated with Pfizer suffered a rare side-effect leading to the inflammation of the heart muscle that caused her demise.
The report was issued as the country battles with an outbreak of the COVID-19 Delta variant after nearly six months of being free from the virus. Prior to the report, a review by an independent panel monitoring the safety of the vaccines came out.
“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, withholding the woman’s age.
The vaccine monitoring panel attributed the death to myocarditis, a rare, but known side-effect of the Pfizer vaccine, the ministry added.
The Rare but Possible Side Effect of Pfizer
Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle that can limit the organ’s ability to pump blood and can cause changes in heartbeat rhythms.
According to Pfizer, it recognized there could be rare reports of myocarditis after vaccinations, but such side-effects were extremely rare.
“Pfizer takes adverse events that are potentially associated with our vaccine very seriously,” it told Reuters.
“We closely monitor all such events and collect relevant information to share with worldwide regulatory authorities.”
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The health ministry also stated that other medical issues at the same time could have influenced the result after vaccination. However, the ministry added that the vaccine’s benefits outweigh the risks from side effects.
“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,” the health ministry said.
Regulators in the United States, the European Union, and the World Health Organization have stated previously that mRNA vaccines by Pfizer and partner BioNTech (22UAy.DE) and by Moderna(MRNA.O) are associated with rare cases of inflammation of the heart muscle or of the lining around the heart but that the benefits outweighed any risks.
“The cases, affecting mainly younger men, tend to be mild and are treatable but can lead to serious illness,” WHO said.
In addition to this, the EU’s drug regulator said on July 9 that five people have died due to the side-effect after receiving either of the two mRNA vaccines in the European Economic Area, all of whom were elderly or had pre-existing conditions. More than 200 million mRNA doses have been administered in the region.
New Zealand has provisionally approved the use of Pfizer/BioNTech, Janssen, and AstraZeneca vaccines, however, only Pfizer has been rolled out for the public.
The 53 newly reported cases on Monday resulted in New Zealand’s tally of 562 COVID-19 infections despite reinforcing a nationwide lockdown just this month to curb the spread of the Delta variant.
