Safety or efficacy? concerns raised by increasing deaths after Pfizer vaccination

2021-January-17 15:19 By: GMW.cn

Safety or efficacy? concerns raised by increasing deaths after Pfizer vaccination

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Twenty-three people died in Norway within days of receiving their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Norwegian Medicines Agency. A probe was accordingly launched by the authorities into the death cases.

Although it's hard to tell the connection between these deaths and the vaccine, the agency noted that the vaccine may indeed be too risky for the very old and terminally ill.

Safety or efficacy? concerns raised by increasing deaths after Pfizer vaccination

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At the end of December 2020, Norway has implemented mass vaccination campaign, beginning with the vaccination of the very oldest citizens and residents of nursing homes, including those over the age of 85.

Common side effects such as fever and nausea caused by Pfizer vaccine, a mRNA-based vaccine candidate, may have contributed to severe consequences in frail, elderly people. Norwegian authorities have asserted that 13 deaths out of 23 have apparent relation with the vaccine.

While western media stay silent on the possibly fatal side effects of the Pfizer/BioNTech, similar cases keep emerging in some countries.

Safety or efficacy? concerns raised by increasing deaths after Pfizer vaccination

Safety or efficacy? concerns raised by increasing deaths after Pfizer vaccination

Screen shot shows a post on the Facebook page of Guangming Daily. Read more at: https://www.facebook.com/1671889933091659/posts/2939547306325909/?d=n

The Israeli Health Ministry announced on Monday (local time) that a 75-year-old man died hours after getting a Pfizer vaccine.

This Friday, the French medicine safety agency has recorded six cases of serious side effects, mostly an allergic reaction, caused by the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

US CDC is also looking into the case of Gregory Michael, a 56-year-old obstetrician who had taken the shot 16 days before his death.

Chinese media Global Times quoted several Chinese medical experts as saying that the efficacy of the vaccine is never the only indicator to evaluate, the safety and possible side effects of the vaccine are of more concern. More comprehensive trials are needed for new technological routes like mRNA development strategy.

The correlation between side effects of the shots and the death of people vaccinated is still unclear. The death incident should be assessed cautiously to understand whether the death was caused by vaccines or other preexisting conditions of these individuals, the paper said.

During the ongoing vaccination in Norway, extra evaluation of very sick people is recommended to be carried out. The Norwegian government will also consider adjusting their vaccination instructions to take the patients' health into more consideration.

"We are not alarmed by this," said Steinar Madsen, medical director with the agency, "It is quite clear that these vaccines have very little risk, with a small exception for the frailest patients."

Editor: WXL
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