Norway can refine vaccination strategy after death of elderly people, says PM

Photographer: Ole Berg-Rusten / AFP / Getty Images

Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg says her country can adjust the vaccination of its older and sicker citizens while trying to make sense of a recent wave of deaths.

Having withstood the pandemic better than most, Norway suddenly made international headlines this month, after revealing that more than 30 people – all over 70 and all already sick – died shortly after being vaccinated against Covid-19 . Solberg says the intense global interest in the news has been “exaggerated” as she tries to ensure that development does not keep people away from vaccination.

“We do not believe there is any problem with vaccine safety,” Solberg said in an interview with Bloomberg Live that aired on Tuesday. “But maybe we will not give them to the most vulnerable of the elderly, because that can speed up a process where they were what we would say in the end-of-life stage anyway,” so “that’s probably not what we’re going to continue to do.”

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health, which identified people over 65 as a group to be prioritized in launching the vaccine, urged doctors to inoculate the elderly and the sick on a case-by-case basis.

“For very fragile patients and terminally ill patients, a careful balance between the benefit and the disadvantage of vaccination is recommended.” said on January 11, before Norway published data on post-inoculation deaths.

Unnecessary worry

The Norwegian Medicines Agency said that its reports on adverse reactions have caused unnecessary concern worldwide, and now will only publish data on deaths that have been autopsied. The agency says its information about the side effects of the Covid-19 vaccines will be included in international studies.

Other countries, including Germany, also reported deaths in people who were recently vaccinated. Finland reported three of those deaths on Tuesday, but none of the countries identified causal links.

The Norwegian Medicines Agency says there is no evidence so far that reported elderly deaths are directly related to the vaccine. “However, it cannot be ruled out that the common side effects of the vaccine, such as fever and nausea, may have contributed to a serious course of underlying disease in fragile patients,” the agency said in a written response to the questions.

Norway is now working with Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE – the first producers to supply vaccines – to examine their data in more detail. The country’s drug agency told Pfizer that it sees no cause for alarm. The first safety report across Europe on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is due to be published in late January.

Meanwhile, the Norwegian government has emphasized its confidence in the vaccine. “We are trying to work hard to get the focus out of this not being a problem,” said Solberg. “It is who we vaccinated, not the vaccine that created this data.”

The Norwegian drug agency reported 292 suspected “adverse reactions” among 71,971 people who had been vaccinated by January 21; of these, 104 were analyzed by health authorities, with 30 reported deaths. The country had inoculated 1.4% of its population as of Friday, according to Bloomberg’s Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker. This compares to 3.4% in neighboring Denmark, which is among the most advanced in Europe with its immunization program.

Norway plans to administer second doses of the vaccine without delay, said Solberg. This contrasts with the approach in the UK, where health secretary Matt Hancock has said there is high confidence that the first dose provides “decent effectiveness” against the virus.

Solberg spoke to Bloomberg Live before Norway moved to block the Oslo area in an effort to combat the spread of the most contagious coronavirus mutations, implementing its most stringent measures to date. The prime minister said she hopes Norway will finish vaccinating its most vulnerable citizens by March.

– With the help of Lars Erik Taraldsen and Naomi Kresge