Norwegian authorities launch probe as 23 people die after receiving Pfizer's Covid vaccine

In a shocking development, as many as 23 elderly people have died shortly after receiving the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. According to foreign media reports, several others have also fallen ill after taking the Pfizer-BioNTech jab, however, there is no confirmation yet if there is a direct correlation.

'We are not alarmed by this': Steinar Madsen

According to a report in The Bloomberg, Pfizer and BioNTech are working with the Norwegian authorities to investigate the deaths. Meanwhile, experts have said that 13 of the 23 people who died have shown common symptoms of mRNA vaccines such as diarrhoea, nausea and fever.

Acting upon this, the Norwegian officials have adjusted their advice on who gets the COVID-19 vaccine, leaving it up to each doctor to consider who should be vaccinated, Associated Press reported on Friday. All the deaths occurred among patients in nursing homes and all were over the age of 80.

The agency listed fever and nausea as side effects which may have led to the deaths of some frail patients, Sigurd Hortemo of the Norwegian Medicines Agency said in the body's first report of the side effects. More than 30,000 people have received the first shot of the Pfizer or Moderna Coronavirus vaccine in the Scandinavian country since the end of December, according to official figures.

"We are not alarmed by this. It is quite clear that these vaccines have very little risk, with a small exception for the frailest patients," Steinar Madsen, medical director with the agency, told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. "Doctors must now carefully consider who should be vaccinated. Those who are very frail and at the very end of life can be vaccinated after an individual assessment," he added.

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Earlier this week, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health said that any side effects of the vaccine will be outweighed by a reduced risk of becoming seriously ill with COVID-19 for elderly, frail people. It added that for very frail patients and terminally ill patients, a careful balance of benefit versus disadvantage of vaccination is recommended. Overall, Norway has seen 57,279 cases and reported 511 deaths.

Across the world, officials expect deaths and other severe side effects to be reported after any mass vaccination campaign given the huge numbers of people involved. But determining whether or not the vaccine caused deaths can be very challenging and requires that all other potential causes be ruled out first. The United Kingdom and the United States have also reported a number of cases of side effects that had fatal consequences.

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(With AP inputs)