Medsafe has recorded the death of a 17-year-old following their first COVID-19 vaccine but it believes the dose was not a factor.
The COVID-19 Vaccine Independent Safety Monitoring Board has reviewed the teenager's death but believed it was not linked to the vaccine.
"The board noted that expert haematology advice has been sought regarding other factors potentially involved and a report had been made to CARM regarding another 'suspect medicine' (ie, possible cause), which would be considered by the Medicines Adverse Reactions Committee (MARC) in due course," the board said.
Up to and including September 11 this year 60 deaths associated with the Pfizer jab have been reported to the Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring (CARM).
Of those only one is likely to have been linked to the vaccine but it was still awaiting the Coroner's determination.
Twenty-seven had been deemed unlikely to be related to the vaccine, 10 could not be assessed due to insufficient information and 22 cases were still under investigation.
"By chance, some people will experience new illnesses or die from a pre-existing condition shortly after vaccination, especially if they are elderly. Therefore, part of our review process includes comparing natural death rates to observed death rates following vaccination, to determine if there are any specific trends or patterns that might indicate a vaccine safety concern," Medsafe said.
"To date, the observed number of deaths reported after vaccination is actually less than the expected number of natural deaths."
There were 2352 non-serious and 63 serious reports for the week ending and including September 11. Six of these serious reports were notifications of deaths, one of which was the 17-year-old.
RNZ
