Instructions could have been ‘confusing’, inquest told
The pharmacy that gave Rory Nairn the Covid vaccine didn’t warn him about myocarditis, but a health leader says the wording of the advice it received may have been confusing.
A coronial inquest into the Dunedin man’s death resumed yesterday after hearing last week from Nairn’s fiance´e and the pharmacy that gave him the vaccine.
Te Whatu Ora Southern’s vaccine roll-out lead Karl Metzler said the pharmacy did not warn Nairn about myocarditis, despite several communications in 2021, but he agreed the wording may have been confusing. The 26-year-old plumber had recently bought a house with fiance´e Ashleigh Wilson when he got his first Covid Pfizer vaccine on November 5, 2021.
On November 17, he died of myocarditis. He had experienced symptoms associated with the disease, including fluttering in his chest, but last week the coroner heard that the pharmacy had not warned him about myocarditis nor its symptoms.
This was despite several notices from multiple agencies involved in the vaccine roll-out, including one from Medsafe on August 30, 2021, that asked providers to ‘‘remain vigilant’’ following the death of a woman with myocarditis, which may have been caused by the vaccine.
Vaccine providers were advised to warn people of the symptoms. However, the pharmacy, which has name suppression, argued the notices were missed or were unclear.
Yesterday, Metzler told the coroner the health authority had not directly instructed providers to tell people receiving the vaccine to watch out for myocarditis symptoms. He said providers were told about updated information, including links to the Medsafe alert, but when asked by the pharmacy’s lawyer, Ben Taylor, if the DHB itself had made it clear what those updates were, Metzler said no.