Australia is ‘proceeding with an abundance of caution’ following the deaths of COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine recipients in Norway.
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health has updated its COVID-19 vaccination guide for inoculating the elderly or frail after 30 aged care residents died shortly after receiving the Pfizer vaccine.
Investigations have so far found common adverse reactions of mRNA vaccines like fever, nausea, and diarrhoea may have contributed to 13 of those deaths. The residents were all aged over 75 and had either months or weeks to live. More than 42,000 people have received the vaccine in Norway.
It’s not yet known whether these deaths are directly linked to the vaccine, or whether there’s cause for alarm. Similar outcomes have not been reported in other countries where the Pfizer vaccine has been widely distributed, including the UK, US and Israel.
