New Zealand’s Auckland remains closed, officials say Pfizer-related death

WELLINGTON, Aug. 30 (Reuters) – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern extended a two-week shutdown in Auckland on Monday, as officials reported the country’s first Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine-related death -19.

New Zealand had been largely virus-free for months, except for a small number of cases in February, until an outbreak of the Delta variant imported from Australia caused Ardern to order a rapid closure across the country on 17 ‘August.

Outbreak infections have reached 562, but the number of new cases daily fell to 53 on Monday, the lowest in five days.

“I know we are all encouraged to have our numbers lower than we have seen in recent days and I know we are all willing to keep up with this trend,” Ardern said at a news conference. “The job is not done yet and we have to move on.”

About 1.7 million Aucklanders will remain in a strict level 4 blockade for another two weeks, while restrictions for the rest of the country will be slightly reduced to level 3.

Ardern’s hard and fast closures, along with the closing of the international border from March 2020, were credited with COVID-19’s reign in the country.

However, the government now faces questions about a delay in the deployment of vaccines, as well as about rising costs in a country that is heavily dependent on the immigrant workforce.

About 21% of the population of 5.1 million people has been completely vaccinated, the slowest rate among the rich nations of the OECD grouping.

THE DEATH OF THE VACCINE

The health ministry announced on Monday that a woman had died from myocarditis, which is known to be a rare side effect of the COVID-19 Pfizer-BioNTech (PFE.N) vaccine (22UAy.DE). Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle that can limit the organ’s ability to pump blood and cause changes in heartbeat rates.

The health ministry did not provide the age of the woman. Pfizer in New Zealand did not immediately respond to a request for email feedback. Read more

Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said the risk of myocarditis after the vaccine was much lower than the risk of myocarditis after being infected with COVID-19.

“And that’s part of the reason we’ve been so open about this case,” Bloomfield said.

“It’s also of great interest internationally because it’s one of the few cases where we have the full range of evidence on side effects and then we’ve been able to explain this death.”

New Zealand has provisionally approved the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech, Janssen and AstraZeneca (AZN.L) vaccines, but only the publication of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been approved.

Ardern said the country has 840,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine left and continues to receive 350,000 doses each week.

Praveen Menon Reports; Edited by Shri Navaratnam and Jane Wardell

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