[Teeth53]

BLOOMBERG, XINHUA) - The New Zealand health authorities said they believe a man's death may be linked to the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.

The 26-year-old man died within two weeks of his first dose of Pfizer and preliminary post-mortem information suggests the probable cause was myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle wall that is a rare side effect of some Covid-19 vaccines, New Zealand's Covid-19 Vaccine Independent Safety Monitoring Board said in an e-mailed statement on Monday (Dec 20).

"With the current available information, the board has considered that the myocarditis was probably due to vaccination in this individual," it said.

The board noted that Covid-19 infection can itself be a cause of myocarditis as well as other serious illnesses and it remains safer to be vaccinated than to be infected with the virus."

It is New Zealand's second reported death linked to the vaccine after the board said in late August that a woman's myocarditis was probably due to vaccination.

It said today that another two people had died with potential myocarditis following vaccination.