Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and New Zealand’s Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield have shut down unsubstantiated rumours of an Auckland teenager reported to have “died weeks after getting a Covid jab.”

The rumour started following the death of a Year 13 student at an Auckland school.

Ardern told reporters this afternoon “we’ve been advised in that particular case that there is no link.”

“And all I would say is that those who seek to make those links, I just can’t imagine how distressing it would be for family members.”

“You’ll have seen that if there is information that needs to be shared, it’s reported to us and we proactively share it, so I would just advise caution on some of the information that is being shared by those who ultimately are seeking to undermine people’s decision around being vaccinated.”

Dr Bloomfield said “even if there’s a possibility, a health professional would notify our system and I get an email on the day, and I haven’t had any emails about this.”

Ardern said “we’ve separately been advised that it’s unrelated.”

The false information gained online traction when Outdoors Party shared a post on their social media page on Saturday.