Second opinion due to possible vaccine link to woman’s death

The woman was found dead in her home earlier this year.

The inquest into her death heard that she had received doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in March and May 2021, followed by a Moderna booster in mid-November and a flu vaccine in early December.

During the inquiry into her death, her family told the court that their mother had experienced side effects after the vaccines, such as being short of breath and headache.

In early December, she could not walk uphill and was struggling to breathe properly, but a visit to her GP did not identify any medical issues.

She continued to show signs of difficulty breathing and suffered headaches over the Christmas period and developed a cough and sore throat in early January, but a lateral flow test was negative.

She died at home within a week.

In her post-mortem, States pathologist Dr Catherine Chinyama noted that the woman had a high body mass index and an abnormal heart, with inflammation within the muscle and on the surface of the heart, conditions known as myocarditis and epicarditis.

‘The possibility of Covid-19-induced myocarditis could not be excluded,’ coroner’s officer Phil Falla told the inquest.

Dr Chinyama sought the expert opinion of Professor Peter Schirmacher, a German pathologist who had experience of Covid-19 vaccine-induced myocarditis deaths.

However, he said he had carried out post mortems on people who had died within 14 days of receiving the vaccine. The woman in this case was seven weeks on from her booster.

‘He could not exclude Covid-19 vaccine-related myocarditis which could have been resolved at the time of death,’ said Mr Falla.

The impact of the flu vaccine and other heart conditions could have been factors, he added.

In the wake of this, Dr Chinyama found the cause of death to be myocarditis due to an unknown cause, and the condition that could have led to an irregular heartbeat.

An open verdict was recorded by Judge Gary Perry.

Findings did not fit the normal pattern – HSC

Health & Social Care said that the findings of cause of death presented to the inquest did not appear to fit the pattern of vaccine-induced myocarditis, but accepted the possibility could not be ruled out.

‘While Professor Peter Schirmacher could not exclude Covid-19 vaccine-related myocarditis, which could have been resolved at the time of death, he stated that it was not possible to determine the cause of myocarditis – whether Covid disease, another virus, Covid vaccine, or any other cause,’ it said. ‘Therefore, none of these can be actively excluded.

‘The findings do not appear to fit the pattern of vaccine-induced myocarditis being found elsewhere in the world, which is typically of young males, occurs within a few days of vaccination, and is usually mild and self-limiting; or of the other cases which Professor Peter Schirmacher has been involved with, which occurred within a few days of vaccination.’

The committee offered its condolences to the woman’s family.