Inquest into Young Woman’s Death and Possible Vaccine Link Leads Moderna to Appear Before Coroner’s Court
Ms. Boyce’s death was the first case where the TGA linked a death to heart complications from either the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccines.
Lawyers for Moderna appeared before the Coroners Court of Victoria for a hearing into the death of Natalie Boyce, a 21-year-old law and commerce student who died from myocarditis after receiving the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
The Coroners Court is currently investigating whether Ms. Boyce’s death was caused by the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
On April 17, the court was informed that Ms. Boyce received her third vaccine, the Moderna vaccine, on Feb. 18, 2022.
About a week later, she sought medical attention from a general practitioner (GP) due to persistent vomiting for five days, along with aching pain and fainting.
In the following weeks, Ms. Boyce sought care at a hospital and a medical center as her symptoms continued.
Then, on March 5, she was admitted to Mulgrave Private Hospital after experiencing chest pain and shortness of breath. She was later transferred to The Alfred, where she was diagnosed with fulminant myocarditis, a severe and often fatal cardiac inflammation disease.
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Ms. Boyce’s condition worsened after having surgery to remove a blood clot. She later suffered a heart attack during an MRI.
Ms. Boyce could not be revived and was pronounced dead on March 27, just under six weeks after receiving the vaccine dose.
What the Autopsy Report Revealed
A post-mortem on Ms. Boyce revealed that she died from an acute myocarditis infarction.
“[G]iven the close proximity in time due to vaccine, a vaccine-related myocarditis cannot be excluded,” stated the autopsy report.
However, the report also mentioned that acute myocarditis infarction could not be diagnosed post-mortem.
On the other hand, Moderna’s cardiologist submitted a letter to the court stating that “the conclusion from the autopsy report should be accepted: that a definitive cause for Ms. Boyce’s myocarditis cannot be identified.”
This was in reference to the report by Moderna’s cardiologist, whose findings differed from other medical evidence presented to the coroner, counsel assisting Jessika Syrjanen said.
However, Ms. Syrjanen did not elaborate on how Moderna’s report differed from the other medical evidence regarding Ms. Boyce’s cause of death and medical management.
“I seek clarification from Moderna’s legal representatives today as to Moderna’s current position and whether that has changed,” Ms. Syrjanen stated.
In response, Moderna’s lawyer, Jesse Rudd, mentioned that she could not provide instant clarification on the company’s position and requested time to seek advice.
In February, Moderna enlisted its own cardiologist to provide an expert opinion to the court and asked for an extension to provide a report from them.
All parties have been given eight weeks to review Moderna’s report and consider their positions.
The case will resume in court on July 17.
AAP contributed to this report.
