Norway’s elderly vax deaths ‘not significant’, says TGA
AUSTRALIAN drug regulators do not expect the deaths of some “very frail” elderly patients in Norway who received the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine will be “of significance” to the vast majority of people in line for the jab.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration is currently investigating reports of about 30 deaths out of 40,000 elderly people in Norway vaccinated with the
Pfizer BioNTech vaccine. “The deaths were recorded among very frail patients, including some who were anticipated to only have weeks or months to live,” the TGA said.
The Norway report does not suggest people under the age of 75 should not take the vaccine.
The TGA said the Norwegian deaths were “associated with fever, nausea and diarrhoea”, which were “relatively common short-lived effects that a number of people experience after vaccination”.
“It is not expected that these common adverse reactions following immunisation will be of significance in the vast majority of individuals vaccinated with the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine,” the TGA said.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said the government had “immediately sought” more information from Pfizer and Norway medical regulator.
“We have been in contact with the Foreign Minister, and Marise Payne will task DFAT to seek advice directly from the Norwegian government,” he said.
“As further information is available, we’ll share that with the Australian public.”
Mr Hunt said at the same time there had been “heartening” the
news from the Centres for Disease Control in the US, with ”very positive results” from its review of 1.8 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine “in terms of both the safety and the efficacy”.
“But this is exactly why, as a nation, we have been absolutely clear ... that safety is Australia’s number one priority,” he said.
“So we’ll continue to follow the processes of the medical regulator.”