Health officials in Norway say there is no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccine was directly responsible for a number of deaths among the elderly.
The Norwegian Medicines Agency said all 33 people over the age of 75 who died after receiving the inoculation had serious underlying illnesses, Bloomberg reported.
“We can’t say people die from the vaccine,” medical director Steinar Madsen said Monday.
“It simply came to our notice then. It is difficult to prove that the vaccine is the direct cause.
Early reports warned that the deaths occurred a few days after receiving the Pfizer vaccine, with 13 of those fatalities, all nursing home patients, potentially related to the side effects of the shootings.
The Scandinavian country had only used the Pfizer vaccine before launching another Modern one on Friday.
More than 42,000 people have received at least one dose of vaccine in the country, which has prioritized the most vulnerable populations, according to government data.
Madsen stressed Monday that it is much riskier to choose not to receive the vaccine.
“It is clear that COVID-19 is much more dangerous to most patients than vaccination,” Madsen said. “We are not alarmed.”