Australia advised to think twice on approving Pfizer shot
Countries like Australia, which is expected to soon give the green light to Pfizer- BioNTech’s COVID- 19 vaccine for use in elderly people, need to suspend their approval procedures to wait for the World Health Organization ( WHO) and Norway to investigate deaths in Norway, Chinese health experts said.
The reported deaths of 23 elderly Norwegian people after receiving the vaccine have raised concern in Australia.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has been in contact with the Australian medical regulator, Therapeutic Goods Administration ( TGA), “requesting that it seek additional information, both from the company and the Norwegian medical regulator,” Australian media reported.
Australia has ordered 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, and it had planned to approve the use of the vaccine by the end of this month. The priority groups include 190,000 aged care and disability care residents, according to Australian media.
The issue prompted Australian experts to suggest giving elderly and frail people an alternative vaccine.
A health officer of Australia said that most Australians would receive the AstraZeneca vaccine because the country is producing it.
Some Chinese health experts said that Australia should not go ahead with the approval of the Pfizer vaccine before the investigation result of the Norwegian deaths is released.
A Beijing- based immunologist, who requested anonymity, told the Global Times on Tuesday that Australia should wait for the WHO’s advice and Norway’s investigation results, and the country could wait as Australia is in summer now, when the coronavirus is relatively mild.
Australia should conduct risk assessment on the risks and benefits for elderly people to receive the Pfizer vaccine, Jiang Chunlai from Jilin University’s School of Life Sciences told the Global Times on Tuesday.
As for the alternative option of the AstraZeneca vaccine for elderly people, the Chinese immunologist said it’s possible that adverse reactions of high- grade fevers and nervous- system effects sometimes can be more lethal for elderly people in nursing homes than the Pfizer vaccine.
For Australia’s mass vaccination program, which is expected to kick off next month, Chinese experts advised Australia to broaden its choice of vaccines, including purchasing Chinese- developed inactivated vaccines, which are relatively safer due to their mature technology.