Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) Representative, Dr Erica Wheeler, is advising that it is yet too soon to jump to conclusions about reports of 23 deaths in Norway allegedly because of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
That vaccine was among the first approved for use to combat the coronavirus and according to Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh, there is a possibility the Pfizer vaccine could be the one used in this country.
But the PAHO/WHO representative said there is no concrete evidence to link the vaccine to the deaths in Norway.
“We do not yet know if those deaths are in fact directly attributable to vaccines because the Norweigan population... between two and three per cent are elderly and it is only elderly people so far that have received it,” Dr Wheeler said while speaking on CNC3’s Morning Brew.
“Out of those people who received the vaccines, we do not yet have the data that links the deaths (to the vaccine). Every year people die. Elderly people over 80 die every year and we cannot jump to the conclusion automatically that it is because of the vaccine. There needs to be research. There’s hardly been any time that has passed (since the incident).”
She said in incidents such as what occurred in Norway there is typically medical investigations. She assured that “that is going on right now between the WHO and the Norweigan government.”
News broke over the weekend that 23 people died in Norway after receiving the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine- the majority of whom were elderly nursing home patients.
As of last Thursday, 42,000 people in Norway had received their first dose of the vaccine. The elderly and those with underlying conditions were at the front of the line to receive the jab.