by Bonnie Flaws

After a recent RCR investigation revealed that more than 311,000 teens aged between 12 and 17 were given two doses of the Covid jab in 2021 – without knowing the associated risk of myocarditis, because this knowledge was kept from them – it is timely to look at what we do know about injuries and deaths associated with the vaccine.

Ground zero for research on this topic is Dr Alison Goodwin of NZDSOS, the organisation that has steadfastly stood against Covid-era injustices and acted as champions for the vaccine injured and bereaved families. 

Goodwin has a background in emergency medicine and general practice and has become renowned for her staunch advocacy for patient rights and informed consent.

While the true number of New Zealanders who have died or suffered serious injury potentially linked to Covid-19 vaccination remains unclear, Goodwin is calling for a comprehensive audit of those cases.

Officially recognised deaths

Four deaths have been officially recognised as being caused by Covid-19 vaccination, all involving myocarditis, while ACC has paid out for six fatal injuries.

Goodwin says she has asked the Ministry of Health, ACC and Health New Zealand for information about the additional two fatal injury cases, including whether they also involved myocarditis and the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

“I haven't been able to find out who those extra two people were, what they died of, or anything,” she says.

But there is another figure that raises questions about whether the official tally captures the full extent of possible vaccine-related deaths, she says.

Nine young deaths examined

NZDSOS has obtained coroners’ reports relating to nine New Zealanders aged between 11 and 25 who died suddenly or unexpectedly. Goodwin has studied them closely. Eight were under 19. Several of the cases involved significant cardiac findings. Here’s a breakdown:

• An 11-year-old boy collapsed while travelling to school. A post-mortem found an enlarged heart and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, with a fatal arrhythmia considered likely.
• An 11-year-old girl experienced chest pain, palpitations and vomiting before collapsing and dying. Her cause of death was recorded as undetermined or presumed natural, with an arrhythmic event suspected.
• Another 11-year-old girl was found unresponsive and later died in hospital. Her death was attributed to hypoxic/ischaemic brain injury following a cardiac arrhythmia of uncertain cause.
• A 12-year-old girl collapsed and died after running. Her recorded cause of death was myocarditis, while genetic testing found no known inherited cause.
• A 13-year-old girl was found dead in bed after apparently being well the previous evening. Her death was recorded as likely sudden cardiac death of unascertained cause.
• A 13-year-old boy was found dead in bed 10 days after receiving his second Covid-19 vaccination. His death was recorded as probable sudden cardiac arrhythmia due to acute lymphocytic myocarditis. The coroner said vaccine involvement could not be ruled out.
• A 17-year-old girl was found dead in bed, with the cause unascertained. Covid-19 was detected, but the pathologist found no evidence that it caused or contributed to her death.
• An 18-year-old man collapsed after playing touch rugby and died at the scene. His cause of death was recorded as sudden cardiac death due to lymphocytic myocarditis.
• A 25-year-old man was found dead in bed, with cardiac hypertrophy recorded as the cause. His mother reported he had received a COVID-19 vaccination within the preceding two weeks, although the dose was unclear. The coroner concluded there was no evidence establishing a direct relationship with vaccination.

Goodwin believes that the vaccination status in these cases was not always adequately considered. 

Two of these deaths involved two female students at the same school who died suddenly two years apart. Goodwin says one girl's coroner's report recorded myocarditis as the cause of death, while the other was recorded as having an assumed cardiac cause of unknown origin.

She says neither report, as she understood them, addressed whether the girls had been vaccinated or whether vaccination could have played a role.

The cases demonstrated the need for a broader audit of deaths to determine whether vaccination may have contributed.

Yet Goodwin questions whether New Zealand's existing systems are even capable of identifying vaccine-related injuries and deaths, given that none of the agencies involved is taking clear responsibility for making those determinations. Responsibility for determining causality appears to move between agencies.

Who is responsible for assessing injuries and deaths?

A coroner's job is to determine the cause of death, while the Centre for Adverse Reaction Monitoring (CARM) or Medsafe should be doing causality assessments. But in Goodwin’s experience, these two things are sometimes conflated, and she says she has seen no evidence that formal causality assessments are even being conducted.

CARM records suspected adverse reactions, but Goodwin says the agency had told people she was assisting that it was simply recording reports rather than determining whether an individual injury or death was caused by vaccination.

In her experience, “everyone fobs the responsibility off to somebody else.”

New Zealand uses World Health Organisation criteria for assessing causality. The criteria consider factors including a person's medical history, the timing of the event following vaccination, whether the adverse effect has been reported internationally and whether there is biological plausibility, according to Goodwin.

However, she argues that those assessments need to be transparent and consistently applied, which, at present, is not the case.

Goodwin has also raised concerns about post-vaccination monitoring after OIA requests revealed that 12-to-18-year-olds were excluded from the post-vaccine symptom checks with no explanation for why that was.

Rise in emergency department presentations

Health New Zealand data released under OIA in 2024 also adds weight to the need for greater scrutiny.

The data revealed a sharp increase in emergency department presentations with chest pain or heart issues by people under 40.

The figures show 2,219 presentations in 2019, rising to 4,406 in 2020, 13,063 in 2021, 21,416 in 2022 and 20,005 in 2023. The figures show presentation numbers only and do not establish their causes.

But Dr Guy Hatchard, who reported on the data, argues the timing deserves scrutiny, given the increase in 2021 as the Covid vaccination programme expanded – before widespread Covid infection in New Zealand.

He argues the figures are not marginal and show an alarming trend. “They have been in the possession of Health New Zealand data from the outset, but the public has heard nothing about them from official sources.”

Hatchard says the timing points to an association with vaccination.

It’s not just myocarditis

Goodwin explains that myocarditis is not necessarily the only significant adverse effect, or even the worst one, but it’s the most discussed. People have experienced a range of other conditions following vaccination, including cancer, she points out.

Nor are her concerns limited to teenagers or males. Of the four officially recognised vaccine deaths, only one involved a teenager, with two male and two female victims. Rory Nairn died after his first dose, while authorities point to the risk only after the second dose.

Goodwin also wants greater scrutiny of people who developed significant symptoms following vaccination but were never investigated.

A systematic investigation is required

While Goodwin stresses that she does not have data on how many deaths can be attributed to Covid-19 vaccination, she believes the lack of a definitive figure is precisely why a systematic investigation is required.

“The thing is, I don't have the data that tells me exactly those numbers. There are a lot more people whose deaths are suspicious.” 

Goodwin believes the number of injuries could be considerably greater than the number of deaths, which is why she argues that deaths occurring after vaccination should be examined to determine whether there was a possible connection.

“We absolutely need some accounting and audit of deaths, of people who've died. Could it be related to the vaccine?”