Pharmacy hasn't done an internal review since suspected vaccine-related death, inquest told

A Heath Ministry employee says the pharmacy that administered Rory Nairn's vaccine had a responsibility to keep up to date with the latest advice, but that hadn't been happening.

Ministry of Health employees are being questioned on Wednesday – the second day of the coronial inquest into the death of the 26-year-old Dunedin man on November 17.

Nairn, who received his first Pfizer vaccine on November 5, died in his home nearly two weeks later from myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle.

While the disease was associated with other viruses, it was a known rare side effect of the vaccine. The vaccine is considered the probable cause in Nairn’s case.

Christine Nolan​, who was the Ministry of Health’s manager of national contracts, quality and workforce at the time of Nairn’s death, noted the pharmacy that gave Nairn the Covid vaccine had yet to complete an internal review following his death.

She also disagreed with a claim that vaccinators received “a million” emails with new information, which was difficult to keep up with.

Vaccinators had a responsibility to keep up with the latest information, which was made available to them, she said.

On Tuesday, the pharmacy’s manager said they were not directed to do a review by the Ministry of Health, so “didn’t see the need” to complete one before this week’s coroner’s inquest. She believed the Southern District Health Board (now part of Te Whatu Ora) would offer instructions.

The pharmacist who administered the vaccine told the coroner on Tuesday that she did not inform Nairn about the risk of myocarditis, as she had not been instructed to do so.

Her manager said she had either missed or misinterpreted the several messages by multiple agencies, telling health professionals to inform patients about myocarditis symptoms.

The corner’s inquest would not determine legal fault. On Tuesday, coroner Sue Johnson said no-one was being accused of a crime, and people taking the stands were considered witnesses.

Nairn’s fiancée, Ashleigh Wilson​ told the coroner on Tuesday that getting vaccinated was the “worst decision of our lives.”

She and Nairn had just bought a house, were to be married in March, and then start a family.

Nairn had experienced a fluttering in his chest the night he was vaccinated, and again over a week later. The night he died, he had agreed to go to hospital to get it checked out, but first needed to use the bathroom.

Wilson said she had suffered from extreme post-traumatic stress disorder from “watching the love of my life die”.

She had experienced death threats and harassment because of Nairn’s death being linked to the vaccine, and blamed the media for members of the public blaming Nairn for his own death.

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