Chris Hipkins has assured the Covid-19 vaccination is "very safe" after a Dunedin man's death from vaccine-related myocarditis.
The autopsy of Rory Nairn found he died of vaccine-related myocarditis.
Nairn died in November after experiencing myocarditis-like symptoms over nearly a fortnight.
At a media conference on Tuesday, Hipkins said the reaction was low risk.
"My overall message to all New Zealanders is that the vaccine is a very safe vaccine, that any small risk associated with the vaccine is by far outweighed by the risk of getting Covid-19 and so vaccination is still absolutely the best course of action."
Ministry of Health Science Adviser Ian Town, also at the media conference, added that he was "deeply saddened" by the death.
"Although this case was probably associated with the vaccination, it is extremely rare internationally and the risks of getting Covid which itself can cause myocarditis, as the minister has said, certainly outweigh that," Town said.
He added it was unlikely that booster shots would trigger myocarditis, which is more common after the first dose, as was the case for Nairn.
On Tuesday it was announced the time for New Zealanders to wait for a Covid-19 booster shot has been reduced from six months to four months, for better protection against the Omicron variant.
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