Garrett Utting, a healthy 30-year-old, died in December 2021, three weeks after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine—a step he had been hesitant to take.
Despite a detailed postmortem examination, the cause of death was labelled ‘unascertained’ by the coroner, who ruled out a vaccine link without extensive testing for vaccine components.
NZDSOS notes that, in their view, this was in error as the “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence”.