Pfizer vaccine not linked to post-jab deaths: EU regulator
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The EU's medicines regulator said the data from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine's roll-out "is consistent with the known safety profile of the vaccine, and no new side effects were identified".
ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
THE HAGUE • The Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus jab has no link to reported post-vaccination deaths and no new side effects, the European Union's medicines regulator said, based on the first data from the vaccine's roll-out.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) yesterday said it had looked at the deaths, including a number among the elderly, and "concluded that the data did not show a link to vaccination with Comirnaty (the vaccine) and the cases do not raise a safety concern".
In its first safety update since the EU started its vaccination campaign last month, the Amsterdam-based EMA said the data "is consistent with the known safety profile of the vaccine, and no new side effects were identified".
Reports of occasional severe allergic reactions did not go beyond what had already been found about this "known side effect", it added.
"The benefits of Comirnaty in preventing Covid-19 continue to outweigh any risks, and there are no recommended changes regarding the use of the vaccine."
The EU watchdog had earlier approved two vaccines - by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Yesterday, it gave the greenlight for AstraZeneca's vaccine.
A number of countries, including Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Sweden, have reported deaths of people who had been given the Pfizer-BioNTech jab, but no direct links to the vaccine have been established.
Norway, in particular, registered 33 deaths among seniors who had received their first dose.
Oslo said earlier this month that it had not established a link between the vaccine and the deaths, but it recommended that doctors consider the overall health of the most frail before giving them the jab.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
