The inquest into the death of a Dunedin man who died after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine has entered its third and final day in the High Court at Dunedin.
Rory Nairn, 26, died at home on November 17 last year after receiving his first dose of the Covid-19 Pfizer vaccine.
An autopsy found he died of vaccine-related myocarditis after experiencing symptoms over nearly a fortnight.
READ MORE: MOH gave warning about myocarditis risk before Dunedin man's death
The main line of questioning today has been around information that was shared about the vaccination process by groups including Te Whatu Ora Southern and Medsafe.
Rory Nairn, 26, died at home on November 17 last year after receiving his first dose of the Covid-19 Pfizer vaccine.
An autopsy found he died of vaccine-related myocarditis, after experiencing symptoms over nearly a fortnight.
The first witness to take the stand on Tuesday was Karl Metzler, Te Whatu Ora Southern, Vaccine Rollout Programme Lead.
READ MORE: Inquest into man who died after getting Covid jab not a trial – Coroner
He begun by giving his condolences to the family of Nairn.
“I can’t imagine the 10 months that you’ve had, and our thoughts are with you on behalf of Te Whatu Ora,” Metzler said.
Metzler was questioned by Ben Taylor, the lawyer representing the pharmacy where Mr Nairn received his vaccination.
Metzler said that a mix of information for health professionals regarding the Covid-19 vaccination was posted to an online vaccine hub.
“Providers would get an email to say the hub had been updated and providers were expected to go and read the updates,” he said.
The pharmacy says they received “millions of emails” throughout the vaccination roll out that contained “a link within a link within a link”.
READ MORE: Health providers urged to warn of rare Covid vaccine side effects
A staff member at the pharmacy Nairn was vaccinated at, who has name suppression, gave evidence last week and was critical of the Ministry of Health’s communication around the risks of myocarditis.
“For something that is so important, I feel like the Ministry of Health or IMAC (the Immunisation Advisory Centre) should probably not put it in a bullet point that is so small,” they said.
On Tuesday, Metzler admitted the information provided to healthcare professionals and the wording of that information “could be confusing” but the Southern DHB was mindful of not duplicating information.
“We tried to keep it focused on things that impacted the providers directly,” Metzler said.
Medsafe’s Christopher James also gave evidence today via AVL.
The inquest into a Dunedin man's death after he got the Covid-19 vaccine has heard vaccinators were warned about serious side effects such as myocarditis. (Source: 1News)
He said communication around the serious risk of myocarditis as a side effect of the Covid-19 vaccine was given to healthcare professionals as early as June 2021.
On July 21, 2021, Medsafe alerted healthcare professionals that myocarditis and pericarditis had been determined to be a rare side effect of the vaccine.
“This was the first instruction advising vaccinators to inform consumers of risk of myocarditis and its symptoms,” James said.
James says this process should have been done prior to the vaccination consent process, and that the advice was “pretty clear”.
But in cross examination, Michael Parker, Counsel to Assist the Coroner says the wording that advised healthcare professionals was “clearly following vaccination, not at time of vaccination” and all messaging was “directed to post vaccination events, not at the time of vaccination”.
Parker says important information was buried in Medsafe messaging.
“If it was clear messaging it should be in another paragraph,” Parker said.
Nairn’s parents who were present last week, along with their lawyer, did not attend this morning.
The inquest has already heard that vaccinators were warned about the risks of serious side effects such as myocarditis months before Nairn died.
The Health Ministry confirmed that by the time Nairn had his vaccination, it was required that questions about myocarditis and pericarditis be part of the vaccination screening process.
Myocarditis and pericarditis are rare side effects involving the heart. The rate in New Zealand is reported to be around three per 100,000 vaccinations or 0.003%, and can be treated if picked up early.
“One effects the lining around the outside of your heart - that's the pericarditis. The other effects the muscles of your heart which is the myocarditis, each of them has different investigations we can do to determine if that’s what’s going on," Royal NZ College of GPs president Dr Samantha Murton told 1News.
According to the Heart Foundation, most cases are mild and do not require treatment. The risk of myocarditis is significantly higher in those who contract Covid-19 while unvaccinated.
The inquest has not finished.
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