23 Norwegians die after taking 1st dose of Corona Vaccine; country says vaccines ‘risky’ for old, sick people

Oslo: Coronavirus vaccines could prove to be very risky for the old and terminally ill patients, Norway has said, making it the most alarming statement during a worldwide drive to administer Covid-19 vaccinations amid a resurge in cases.

As per reports, 23 people have died in the country so far after taking the first dose of the vaccine, of which the autopsy reports of 13 have suggested side effects of the vaccines are the reason for their deaths.

A majority of those who died were elderly, sick people, the Norwegian Medicines Agency said, adding that all casualties were patients in nursing homes who were over the age of 80.

The health agency cited fever and nausea as side effects that “may have led to the deaths of some frail patients”, Sigurd Hortemo of the Agency said in the body’s first official report on the side effects of vaccines.

“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. 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,” Steinar Madsen, medical director with the agency, told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

More than 30,000 people in the Scandinavian country have been given the first shot of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines since end of December.

“For those with the most severe frailty, even relatively mild vaccine side effects can have serious consequences. For those who have a very short remaining life span anyway, the benefit of the vaccine may be marginal or irrelevant,” the Norwegian Institute of Public Health reportedly said.