Ministry v Social media

The Health Ministry is facing a barrage of claims that the Covid vaccine is a tester for mass genocide, has left multiple people been in intensive care units and reports of deaths are removed from websites.

As efforts are made to ramp up vaccinations rates, particularly among Waipā’s Māori and Pasifika, media outlets are being asked to follow up claims of multiple deaths.

One site referred to by a News reader has posts from many people who claim to know two people who were perfectly healthy but died soon after getting the jab.

In the News today, Hauraki-Waikato MP Nanaia Mahuta laments how social media platforms “have opened the floodgates of myth and misinformation”.

A health ministry spokesperson told the News this week that as of September 16, over four million doses of the Pfizer vaccine had been administered in New Zealand and 60 deaths had been reported to Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring – CARM.

That is a death rate following – but not necessarily linked to – the jab of 0.0015 per cent.

No readers has come to the News with a report of a death or serious illness following a Covid jab.

“Anyone who experiences a reaction following vaccination is encouraged to report it to the Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring (CARM). You don’t have to be a health professional to submit a report and you don’t need to be certain that the reaction was caused by the vaccine,” the spokesperson said.

“If there is a death that is linked to the vaccine, it would be made public and reported accordingly. Just as we report the sad deaths of people who have died from Covid-19.”

The Ministry pointed to a case earlier this year where a woman in her 50s who had received the Pfizer vaccine died.

“The CV-ISMB reviewed this case and considered that the woman’s death was due to myocarditis, which is known to be a rare side effect of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. They considered that the myocarditis was probably due to vaccination. The case has been referred to the Coroner and the cause of death has not yet been determined.”

Medsafe issues weekly reports summarising the number and type of adverse events following immunisation reported with Covid-19 vaccines at www.medsafe.govt.nz/Covid-19/vaccine-report-overview.asp

In the latest Medsafe report the analysis of observed numbers of deaths against the expected number from natural death rates in previous years shows that there is no effect of vaccination on death rates.

“When a large number of people are being vaccinated, including elderly people and those with significant long-term health issues, there is a high probability that some people will die by chance after their vaccination,” the spokesperson said.

More Recent News

Playbox borrows Cambridge actors

Young Cambridge actors have key parts in the coming Playbox Theatre company’s production of The Borrowers which opens I just over a week. Thomas Briston, Holly Fulforth, Liam Dobson and Lyra Slaughter are among a…

Happy with the blues

A Cambridge-based musician is hoping the initial success of his first single Raven Blues on all streaming platforms earlier this month gives his Extended Play (EP) album a boost when it is released next week….

Cash cut will hurt tourism

Four of Hamilton and Waikato Tourism’s local authority partners – including Waipā – will reduce their funding from July 1. And the flow on impact is likely to hit the region hard with job losses…

Is the mullet being cut?

Cambridge Middle School’s annual Mullet of the Month competition ran for the third year on Friday, as the school’s cricket pitch was transformed into a makeshift runway. Ten finalists were selected to strut their stuff…