A top doctor for Norway’s drug regulatory agency on Friday suggested side effects from the
Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine may have contributed to deaths in some older patients.
Dr. Sigurd Hortemo, chief physician at the Norwegian Medicines Agency, said in a
statement that common side effects like fever and nausea shortly after vaccination may have led to more serious outcomes and deaths among elderly, frail patients.
According to the Norwegian Medicines Agency, as of Thursday, reports of 23 suspected deaths were sent to the Norwegian ADR health registry, including 13 reports assessed by health officials. The patients died within a week of vaccination, a spokesperson said.
"We cannot rule out that adverse reactions to the vaccine occurring within the first days following vaccination (such as fever and nausea) may contribute to more serious course and fatal outcome in patients with severe underlying disease," the agency said in the statement.
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The statement noted that Pfizer’s large clinical trials didn’t test the vaccine on patients with severe illness or those older than 85.
Indeed, prior to emergency approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a committee advising the agency endorsed the product and
found no specific safety concerns among subgroup analyses but did list several unknowns that will need to be investigated further, including duration of immunity, efficacy in certain high-risk populations, those previously infected, as well as effectiveness among asymptomatic infection, long-term effects of COVID-19 disease, mortality and transmission of SARS-CoV-2. The trial tested patients up to 85 years old.
According to Pfizer, the Norway agency isn't alarmed by the small number of incidents.
https://www.foxnews.com/health/norway-coronavirus-vaccines-23-deaths-elderly-frail-patients