Chinese health experts advise Australia to halt approval for Pfizer vaccine following Norwegian deaths

[TaiShang]

Countries like Australia, which is expected to soon give the green light to Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for use in elderly people, need to suspend their approval procedures to wait for the World Health Organization (WHO) and Norway to investigate deaths in Norway, Chinese health experts said.

They said that for mass vaccination programs, Australia should broaden its choices of COVID-19 vaccines, such as purchasing Chinese-produced inactivated vaccines.

The deaths of 23 elderly Norwegian people after receiving the vaccine have raised concern in Australia. Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has been in contact with the Australian medical regulator, Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), "requesting that it seek additional information, both from the company and the Norwegian medical regulator," Australian media reported.

Australia has ordered 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, and it had planned to approve the use of the vaccine by the end of this month. The priority groups include 190,000 aged care and disability care residents, according to Australian media.

The WHO said that it is aware of the deaths in Norway, and it will closely follow the investigation into the causes and circumstances of the deaths, Sputnik reported.

The TGA issued a statement, which Australian media ABC News said "downplayed concerns," saying that the Norwegian deaths were associated with fever, nausea and diarrhea, which are relatively common short-lived effects that a number of people experience after vaccinations.

"It is not expected that these common adverse reactions following immunization will be of significance in the vast majority of individuals vaccinated with the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine," it said on its website.

The TGA said it will continue to work with European regulators in the coming days to investigate this report and determine whether specific warnings about the risks of vaccination in the very frail elderly or terminally ill should be potentially included in the product information for the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine.

The issue prompted Australian experts to suggest giving elderly and frail people an alternative vaccine.

An infectious disease expert from Australian National University, Professor Sanjaya Senanayake, said if people over 85 in nursing homes were vulnerable to the effects of the Pfizer vaccine, then they could use another vaccine - the AstraZeneca vaccine, ABC News reported on Tuesday.

A health officer of Australia said that most Australians would receive the AstraZeneca vaccine because the country is producing it.

Some Chinese health experts said that Australia should not go ahead with the approval of the Pfizer vaccine before the investigation result of the Norwegian deaths is released.

A Beijing-based immunologist, who requested anonymity, told the Global Times on Tuesday that Australia should wait for the WHO's advice and Norway's investigation results, and the country could wait as Australia is in summer now, when the coronavirus is relatively mild.

Australia should conduct risk assessment on the risks and benefits for elderly people to receive the Pfizer vaccine, Jiang Chunlai from Jilin University's School of Life Sciences told the Global Times on Tuesday.

As for the alternative option of the AstraZeneca vaccine for elderly people, the Chinese immunologist said it's possible that adverse reactions of high-grade fevers and nervous-system effects sometimes can be more lethal for elderly people in nursing homes than the Pfizer vaccine.

The immunologist said for elderly people, a vaccine may not be a good preventive measure as it may lead to deaths due to their low immunity. He said tightening management and disinfection procedures in nursing homes could be more effective.

For Australia's mass vaccination program, which is expected to kick off next month, Chinese experts advised Australia to broaden its choice of vaccines, including purchasing Chinese-developed inactivated vaccines, which are relatively safer due to their mature technology.

Chinese health experts advise Australia to halt approval for Pfizer vaccine following Norwegian deaths - Global Times

www.globaltimes.cn

 

[xyxmt]

Is China training Australia to her new master

 

[TaiShang]

Is China training Australia to her new master

Just offering professional advice. Australian government should care about their citizen. Life is more sacred than ideology. Australia should stop being so radical extremist in its binary interpretation of different systems.

 

[tower9]

Is China training Australia to her new master

 

[xyxmt]

Just offering professional advice. Australian government should care about their citizen. Life is more sacred than ideology. Australia should stop being so radical extremist in its binary interpretation of different systems.

Australia submits to US wishes (even the unspoken ones), they need to be trained for different ideology.

 

[Oldman1]

Norway Moves to Calm Vaccine Anxiety After Elderly Deaths

Health authorities in Norway sought to allay safety concerns raised by the death of some elderly patients after they were vaccinated against Covid-19, saying there’s no evidence of a direct link.

www.bloomberg.com

Norway Moves to Calm Vaccine Anxiety After Elderly Deaths

Health authorities in Norway sought to allay safety concerns raised by the death of some elderly patients after they were vaccinated against Covid-19, saying there’s no evidence of a direct link.



The initial reports from Norway raised alarm as the world looks for early signs of potential side effects from the vaccines. Although doctors say it’s possible that vaccine side-effects could aggravate underlying illnesses, they were expecting nursing-home residents to die shortly after being vaccinated because deaths are more common among the frailest and sickest elderly patients.



“Clearly, Covid-19 is far more dangerous to most patients than vaccination,” Steinar Madsen, medical director at the Norwegian Medicines Agency, said by phone on Monday, adding that a connection between the vaccine and the deaths is difficult to prove. “We are not alarmed.”

Hong Kong Request
Other countries, including Germany and Israel, have also reported deaths in people who recently were vaccinated, without identifying causal links. Hong Kong’s government-appointed vaccine advisory panel said Monday that it’s seeking more data from the Norwegian and German governments on incidents involving the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, which has been approved in the territory.

Experts on vaccines and aging had predicted early on that deaths after vaccinations in high-risk patients might cause confusion.

“Frail, older adults die, and die often, and I don’t think people realize that,” said Keipp Talbot, an associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University who advises the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine use. “My concern was that we would introduce vaccine, and people would think it was killing people.”


Talbot was the only person on the CDC advisory panel to recommend against offering Covid-19 vaccines first to old and sick people in nursing homes -- not because she was concerned they’d be harmed, she said, but because she was concerned that inevitable deaths shortly after shots would lower trust in the vaccines. Talbot said she also thought it might be a better use of scarce supplies to immunize the people surrounding the old and sick.

One key metric would be to compare the number of people who would typically die in a nursing home with the number who die shortly after getting a Covid vaccine, Talbot said.



Daily Deaths
“It is important to remember that about 45 people die every day in nursing homes in Norway, so it is not a given that this represents any excess mortality or that there is a causal connection,” Camilla Stoltenberg, head of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, said at a press conference on Monday.

Until Friday, Norway had only used the vaccine provided by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE. The companies are now working with the Nordic country to look into the deaths. The first Europe-wide safety report on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is due to be published at the end of January.

Norway says advice on use of Pfizer vaccine is unchanged

Norway said on Monday it was not changing its policy on the use of Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine following reports of deaths in highly frail recipients after the inoculation was given.

www.reuters.com

Norway says advice on use of Pfizer vaccine is unchanged
FRANKFURT/OSLO (Reuters) - Norway said on Monday it was not changing its policy on the use of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine following reports of deaths in highly frail recipients after the inoculation was given.


As of Jan. 14, 23 reports of suspected deaths associated with COVID-19 vaccines have been submitted to the Norwegian health registry.

Of these 23 reports, 13 have been looked into by Norwegian health authorities. These concerned individuals who were described as old, frail and with serious diseases.


But the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) said its guidelines remained the same.

“The FHI has specified the advice that has been valid all the time, that one should have an assessment of each and every one before offering the vaccine,” Camilla Stoltenberg, the head of the agency, told a news conference.

“These are people who are very old, are frail and have serious diseases,” she said “When it comes to the cause (of death), no analysis has been done.”

“It is not a given that this represents an overmortality or a causality,” she said.


In Norway, an average of 400 people die each week in nursing homes and long-term care facilities.

Pfizer did not have any immediate comment.

Germany’s health minister Jens Spahn said at a news briefing on Monday that the country’s vaccine regulator also saw no need to revise guidelines and that it was in contact with Norwegian counterparts.

In other words, vaccinating the elderly who were already going to die. 400 elderly dying each week. And Norway is not a country that would just keep going in terms of their concern for their citizens right?

 

[TaiShang]

Norway Moves to Calm Vaccine Anxiety After Elderly Deaths

Health authorities in Norway sought to allay safety concerns raised by the death of some elderly patients after they were vaccinated against Covid-19, saying there’s no evidence of a direct link.

www.bloomberg.com

Norway Moves to Calm Vaccine Anxiety After Elderly Deaths

Health authorities in Norway sought to allay safety concerns raised by the death of some elderly patients after they were vaccinated against Covid-19, saying there’s no evidence of a direct link.



The initial reports from Norway raised alarm as the world looks for early signs of potential side effects from the vaccines. Although doctors say it’s possible that vaccine side-effects could aggravate underlying illnesses, they were expecting nursing-home residents to die shortly after being vaccinated because deaths are more common among the frailest and sickest elderly patients.



“Clearly, Covid-19 is far more dangerous to most patients than vaccination,” Steinar Madsen, medical director at the Norwegian Medicines Agency, said by phone on Monday, adding that a connection between the vaccine and the deaths is difficult to prove. “We are not alarmed.”

Hong Kong Request
Other countries, including Germany and Israel, have also reported deaths in people who recently were vaccinated, without identifying causal links. Hong Kong’s government-appointed vaccine advisory panel said Monday that it’s seeking more data from the Norwegian and German governments on incidents involving the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, which has been approved in the territory.

Experts on vaccines and aging had predicted early on that deaths after vaccinations in high-risk patients might cause confusion.

“Frail, older adults die, and die often, and I don’t think people realize that,” said Keipp Talbot, an associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University who advises the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine use. “My concern was that we would introduce vaccine, and people would think it was killing people.”


Talbot was the only person on the CDC advisory panel to recommend against offering Covid-19 vaccines first to old and sick people in nursing homes -- not because she was concerned they’d be harmed, she said, but because she was concerned that inevitable deaths shortly after shots would lower trust in the vaccines. Talbot said she also thought it might be a better use of scarce supplies to immunize the people surrounding the old and sick.

One key metric would be to compare the number of people who would typically die in a nursing home with the number who die shortly after getting a Covid vaccine, Talbot said.



Daily Deaths
“It is important to remember that about 45 people die every day in nursing homes in Norway, so it is not a given that this represents any excess mortality or that there is a causal connection,” Camilla Stoltenberg, head of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, said at a press conference on Monday.

Until Friday, Norway had only used the vaccine provided by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE. The companies are now working with the Nordic country to look into the deaths. The first Europe-wide safety report on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is due to be published at the end of January.

Norway says advice on use of Pfizer vaccine is unchanged

Norway said on Monday it was not changing its policy on the use of Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine following reports of deaths in highly frail recipients after the inoculation was given.

www.reuters.com

Norway says advice on use of Pfizer vaccine is unchanged
FRANKFURT/OSLO (Reuters) - Norway said on Monday it was not changing its policy on the use of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine following reports of deaths in highly frail recipients after the inoculation was given.


As of Jan. 14, 23 reports of suspected deaths associated with COVID-19 vaccines have been submitted to the Norwegian health registry.

Of these 23 reports, 13 have been looked into by Norwegian health authorities. These concerned individuals who were described as old, frail and with serious diseases.


But the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) said its guidelines remained the same.

“The FHI has specified the advice that has been valid all the time, that one should have an assessment of each and every one before offering the vaccine,” Camilla Stoltenberg, the head of the agency, told a news conference.

“These are people who are very old, are frail and have serious diseases,” she said “When it comes to the cause (of death), no analysis has been done.”

“It is not a given that this represents an overmortality or a causality,” she said.


In Norway, an average of 400 people die each week in nursing homes and long-term care facilities.

Pfizer did not have any immediate comment.

Germany’s health minister Jens Spahn said at a news briefing on Monday that the country’s vaccine regulator also saw no need to revise guidelines and that it was in contact with Norwegian counterparts.

In other words, vaccinating the elderly who were already going to die. 400 elderly dying each week. And Norway is not a country that would just keep going in terms of their concern for their citizens right?

More cases emerge.

Cover up gets tougher.

 

[Oldman1]

More cases emerge.

Cover up gets tougher.

Tell that to the Norwegians.

 

[Viet]

Countries like Australia, which is expected to soon give the green light to Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for use in elderly people, need to suspend their approval procedures to wait for the World Health Organization (WHO) and Norway to investigate deaths in Norway, Chinese health experts said.

They said that for mass vaccination programs, Australia should broaden its choices of COVID-19 vaccines, such as purchasing Chinese-produced inactivated vaccines.

The deaths of 23 elderly Norwegian people after receiving the vaccine have raised concern in Australia. Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has been in contact with the Australian medical regulator, Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), "requesting that it seek additional information, both from the company and the Norwegian medical regulator," Australian media reported.

Australia has ordered 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, and it had planned to approve the use of the vaccine by the end of this month. The priority groups include 190,000 aged care and disability care residents, according to Australian media.

The WHO said that it is aware of the deaths in Norway, and it will closely follow the investigation into the causes and circumstances of the deaths, Sputnik reported.

The TGA issued a statement, which Australian media ABC News said "downplayed concerns," saying that the Norwegian deaths were associated with fever, nausea and diarrhea, which are relatively common short-lived effects that a number of people experience after vaccinations.

"It is not expected that these common adverse reactions following immunization will be of significance in the vast majority of individuals vaccinated with the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine," it said on its website.

The TGA said it will continue to work with European regulators in the coming days to investigate this report and determine whether specific warnings about the risks of vaccination in the very frail elderly or terminally ill should be potentially included in the product information for the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine.

The issue prompted Australian experts to suggest giving elderly and frail people an alternative vaccine.

An infectious disease expert from Australian National University, Professor Sanjaya Senanayake, said if people over 85 in nursing homes were vulnerable to the effects of the Pfizer vaccine, then they could use another vaccine - the AstraZeneca vaccine, ABC News reported on Tuesday.

A health officer of Australia said that most Australians would receive the AstraZeneca vaccine because the country is producing it.

Some Chinese health experts said that Australia should not go ahead with the approval of the Pfizer vaccine before the investigation result of the Norwegian deaths is released.

A Beijing-based immunologist, who requested anonymity, told the Global Times on Tuesday that Australia should wait for the WHO's advice and Norway's investigation results, and the country could wait as Australia is in summer now, when the coronavirus is relatively mild.

Australia should conduct risk assessment on the risks and benefits for elderly people to receive the Pfizer vaccine, Jiang Chunlai from Jilin University's School of Life Sciences told the Global Times on Tuesday.

As for the alternative option of the AstraZeneca vaccine for elderly people, the Chinese immunologist said it's possible that adverse reactions of high-grade fevers and nervous-system effects sometimes can be more lethal for elderly people in nursing homes than the Pfizer vaccine.

The immunologist said for elderly people, a vaccine may not be a good preventive measure as it may lead to deaths due to their low immunity. He said tightening management and disinfection procedures in nursing homes could be more effective.

For Australia's mass vaccination program, which is expected to kick off next month, Chinese experts advised Australia to broaden its choice of vaccines, including purchasing Chinese-developed inactivated vaccines, which are relatively safer due to their mature technology.

Chinese health experts advise Australia to halt approval for Pfizer vaccine following Norwegian deaths - Global Times

www.globaltimes.cn

Best joke of the day
An anonymous chinese man told a communist tabloid global times a western country to stop using a western vaccine.
Any other wishes from this no name man?

 

[That Guy]

More cases emerge.

Cover up gets tougher.

There is no cover up.

 

[TaiShang]

Best joke of the day
An anonymous chinese man told a communist tabloid global times a western country to stop using a western vaccine.
Any other wishes from this no name man?

This is no less credible than a US expert talking to a US regime-friendly newspaper.

 

[Viet]

This is no less credible than a US expert talking to a US regime-friendly newspaper.

Here Germany we have almost two million Pfizer vaccinations without any glitches.

 

[TaiShang]

Here Germany we have almost two million Pfizer vaccinations without any glitches.

Yes, Germany is comparably more efficient.

I think China is at 15 million although there's no nationwide vaccination as far as I know.

 

[Globenim]

Here Germany we have almost two million Pfizer vaccinations without any glitches.

It was generously rounded up 1.6 Million (Pfizer) vaccinations when you posted that. With 145 cases of serious sideffects,four times more moderate sideeffects and one in two reporting light sideeffects and lastly 1 confirmed death of a merely 40 year old woman that couldn't be linked to the vaccine. Everytime I see you posting "here in Germany" stuff that can be simply looked up its completely false.

Nevermind that its silly to use one of the most "developed" countries in the world as a measuring stick for for a vaccine which biggest already known risks are temperature drops in the supply chain that are prone to happen in less fortunate countries.

 

[nang2]

The cases from Israel may be more interesting. They are administering Pfizer vaccines like nobody's business.