Norway Calms 'Vaccine Fear': "COVID-19 Is More Dangerous"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] In Norway, more than 30 elderly people who received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine have died, prompting Norwegian health authorities to address the 'COVID-19 vaccine phobia.'

According to Bloomberg News and others, Steiner Madsen, Director of the Norwegian Medicines Agency (NMA), said on the 18th (local time), "For most patients, COVID-19 is more dangerous than vaccination."

In Norway, over 48,000 people have been vaccinated from the 27th of last month to this day. There have been 33 deaths reported as of today, all among elderly individuals aged 75 or older with severe underlying conditions.

Norwegian health authorities see no direct link between the vaccine and the deaths. Director Madsen stated, "The death rate is less than one per 1,000," adding, "We cannot rule out the possibility that vaccination side effects may have worsened underlying conditions." Camilla Stoltenberg, Director of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, also said, "In Norwegian nursing homes, 45 people die daily," and "Deaths due to vaccination do not show excess mortality or causality."

Norway had been administering only the Pfizer vaccine since last month but introduced the Moderna vaccine starting the 15th of this month. Director Madsen said, "The Moderna vaccine, like the Pfizer vaccine, is based on messenger RNA," and predicted, "There will be no change in (post-vaccination death rates, etc.) with the Moderna vaccine."

Meanwhile, other countries have also reported deaths among Pfizer vaccine recipients. In Israel, a 75-year-old man with underlying conditions died two hours after vaccination last month. In Germany, a healthy 90-year-old woman died one hour after vaccination. In the United States, a doctor in his 50s, and in Portugal, a nurse in her 40s, also died after vaccination, but no causal relationship with the vaccination has been confirmed.