This is a figure that could be of concern, in the midst of the Covid-19 vaccination campaign: the Norwegian authorities, who have administered more than 20,000 doses of Pfizer / BioNTech serum in the country, must already consider the death of 23 of them, of a very advanced age.
The Norwegian Medicines Agency (NOMA) reported on Saturday that an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the 23 deaths that occurred on January 14 in elderly and recently vaccinated people.
According to initial investigations, 13 of these victims developed common side effects, manifested by fever, diarrhea or nausea.
The local media NRK specifies that all were residents of retirement homes, aged 80 to over 90 years.
"It is possible that these common side effects, which are not dangerous in younger and fit patients and are not unusual with vaccines, could worsen an underlying disease in the elderly," commented the medical director. from NOMA, Steinar Madsen to the British Medical Journal.
If he assures that at this stage "there is no certain link between these deaths and the vaccine", he did not however want to rule out any leads: "It may be a coincidence, but we do not 're not sure.
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10 deaths after vaccination in Germany
In its press release, NOMA also points out that clinical trials conducted on Pfizer's vaccine "only included a few participants over the age of 85", pointing to the lack of data on seniors.
Another point justifying these deaths: "We are currently vaccinating the elderly and living in retirement homes," says the agency, according to which 400 residents of retirement homes die each week.
She concludes: “It is therefore expected that deaths will occur near the time of vaccination.
While waiting for these deaths to be clarified, NOMA has asked doctors to continue their vaccinations, nevertheless demanding a thorough evaluation of the sickest patients.
These deaths are not the only ones to be investigated.
In Germany, where more than 800,000 doses have been injected, the Paul Ehrlich Institute announced Thursday to look into the deaths of 10 people, which occurred shortly after the vaccination against Covid-19.
Experts, however, do not believe that a link with the vaccine, because the victims were "very seriously ill patients," said an official from the department of drug safety, quoted by the NTV media.
The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), responsible for vaccination in the United States, also noted in its first report on January 6 that out of the 1,893,360 first injections of the Pfizer vaccine, 21 cases of anaphylactic shock, a serious allergic reaction, which may be fatal, have been reported.
Most of the patients had a history of allergies and none caused death, claims the CDC.
But the news of the death of a doctor, victim of a blood clotting disorder two weeks after an injection, has meanwhile triggered a new investigation.
A death in France, no "link with vaccination"
In France, a resident of Ehpad died two hours after receiving the product from Pfizer, revealed Thursday in its latest report on the ANSM (Medicines Agency), ensuring that "no immediate adverse effects were observed following vaccination ”.
"In view of these elements, the medical history and the heavy treatment of the person, there is nothing to conclude that this death is related to the vaccination", advances the agency, which also mentions the occurrence of "six adverse effects serious with a favorable outcome ”since the start of vaccination.
Among which "four cases of allergic reactions and two cases of tachycardia", to which are added "about thirty cases of non-serious adverse effects", including redness or pain at the point of vaccination.
These vaccine-related adverse effects, whether serious or not, are documented in France by pharmacovigilance, a surveillance network overseen by the ANSM.
Since the start of the vaccination campaign, the infectious disease specialist Benjamin Davido, from the Raymond-Poincaré hospital, in Garches, has identified two, each time within two hours.
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"The vaccine is most often done by a nurse, under the case law of a doctor", he supports, specifying that to date, "75% of serious adverse effects occur immediately and 25% within 3 hours ".
After the injection, a patient observation period of 15 minutes should be observed before he goes home.
Then, in the event of a symptom, he must notify his doctor or make himself known on the website of the Ministry of Health.
The importance of the "benefit-risk balance"
“Our report goes back to a regional pharmacovigilance center (CRPV), which will query a database, then send the information to the ANSM.
Then, as for each drug, you receive a conclusion often in less than 24 hours, with an action to be taken with the patient ", details Dr. Davido, who observes that" the more you declare these effects, the more you allow to support that their occurrence is not linked to chance ”.
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In the case of his patient who presented an allergic reaction after the injection, a caregiver already suffering from an allergic condition, it was for example decided not to administer a second dose.
If, according to him, there is not a vaccinated population more closely monitored than another, the infectious disease specialist concedes that for the elderly and sick, who would present a risk of fatal adverse effects, such as those who died in Norway, "we struggles to assess the risk-benefit balance ”.
The specialist takes the example of the contrast product injected into people suffering from cancer and having to undergo a scanner.
“There is a risk of allergy and therefore loss of chances, but we have to calculate this benefit-risk balance, since doing this scanner will perhaps allow this cancer to be treated.
In the case of the coronavirus vaccine, this equation must be the same: even if the elderly are more vulnerable to possible side effects, they are also by far the most affected by the symptoms of Covid-19.