Instructions could have been 'confusing', inquest into vaccine-related death 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 has resumed on Tuesday, after hearing last week from Nairn’s fiancée and the pharmacy that gave him the vaccine.

Te Whatu Ora Southern’s vaccine rollout 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 corner’s inquest was not about finding fault, but about what happened in the lead up to Nairn’s death.

The 26-year-old plumber had recently bought a house with fiancée 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.

The employee in charge of the pharmacy’s vaccination programme told the coroner they had relied on emails and communication from the Southern District Health Board (now called Te Whatu Ora Southern) for important updates.

They said the volume of information the pharmacy received, on top of the day-to-day operations of the business, had been overwhelming.

On Tuesday, Metzler told the coroner the health authority had not directly instructed providers to tell people receiving the vaccine to watch out for myocarditis symptoms.

Metzler 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.

The DHB had not wanted to overload providers with duplicate information from other sources, such as Medsafe’s August 2021 alert that told clinicians to be aware of myocarditis symptoms following a death, he said.

He agreed the wording regarding whether someone should be warned of myocarditis – either before their vaccination, after, or only if they’d previously been diagnosed with it – might be confusing.

Next to take the witness stand would be Chris James, a group manager at Medsafe, which approved and monitored medicines such as the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.

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