01/18/2021 15:43
Clarín.com
World
Updated 01/18/2021 3:43 PM
Norwegian authorities came out on Monday to clarify that there is no established link between the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine against the coronavirus and the death of more than 30 vaccinated people in the country.
Although he recommended conducting a medical evaluation to the elderly and frail patients before inoculation.
Since the beginning of the vaccination campaign at the end of December, the Scandinavian country has registered
33 deaths of the elderly who had received a first dose
, according to the latest balance of the authorities.
The first information spoke of between 23 and 29 deceased.
Among the 13 most comprehensively studied cases so far, "they are very old, frail and seriously ill," said the director of the Norwegian public health authority, Camilla Stoltenberg, at a press conference.
"Regarding the causes of the deaths, there was no analysis," he clarified.
"But, the most important thing is to remember that 45 people die every day in nursing homes in Norway. Therefore, it has not been established that there is excess mortality or that it is related to vaccines," said the head of Health.
The Norwegian authorities clarify that the majority of those vaccinated were residents of nursing homes.
Photo: REUTERS
Anyway, after the death report, Norway reiterated in recent days
the recommendation to
carry out a medical evaluation before vaccinating very fragile
or dying people, as is already the case in other countries.
"It is not impossible that some of the people to whom the vaccine is proposed are so fragile ... that it is not worth inoculating them, since they can potentially see their situation deteriorate due to normal side effects," added Stoltenberg this Monday.
The Norwegian drug authority expressed concern late last week, stating that the common side effects of messenger RNA vaccines (which seek to provoke an immune reaction), such as fever and nausea, could "have contributed to a fatal outcome in some fragile patients "in the country.
Post-vaccination deaths have been reported by several nations, but health authorities believe
a link to the vaccine cannot be established.
Pfizer investigates
Laboratories Pfizer and BioNTech, which manufacture the vaccine that is being used in Norway, throughout the European Union, in the United States and in several Latin American countries, told AFP on Monday "that they work together with the Norwegian drug agency. to collect all the relevant information ", recalling that in this Nordic country the campaign began by vaccinating the elderly who reside in health homes.
"Most of them are very old, with diseases that in some cases are terminal in nature," stressed Pfizer.
According to the latest available balance, in Norway more than 48,000 people have been vaccinated, out of a total population of 5.4 million inhabitants.
Germany does not change its plans
After the dissemination of the deaths in Norway after the vaccination, the German government said on Monday that it does not plan to alter its immunization plan.
The German Minister of Health, Jens Spahn, assured in a press conference that in Germany there have also been cases of elderly people with previous illnesses who have died after receiving the first dose of the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine, although at the moment
not no causality
between the two events
has been proven
.
The Pfizer laboratory analyzes the possible cause of death of several people after receiving the serum against the coronavirus.
Photo: REUTERS
The Paul Ehrlich Institute, the reference center for vaccination in Germany, is in contact with the Norwegian authorities and is documenting the cases in Germany, where about 1.05 million people have already been vaccinated, the Health Minister said.
The first report from the Paul Ehrlich Institute on this vaccine points out that between December 27 and January 10 there were seven deaths of people who had been inoculated with the BioNTech / Pfizer preparation (out of the total of 613,347 vaccinated), between 2 , 5 hours and four days after the injection.
They were four women and three men between 79 and 93 years old with serious previous conditions, from hypertension to diabetes, going through dementia, encephalopathy, carcinoma or kidney failure.
The German Permanent Commission on Vaccination had already warned that the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine could have side effects in "very rare" cases, that is, one in every 10,000 vaccinated.
Source: AFP, EFE and ANSA
CB
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