The answer to this instalment’s leading title is a resounding NO. The rest of this instalment will explain to you in length why this is so.

On the Jan 14, the Norwegian Medicines Agency reported that 23 elderly individuals in Norway died soon after they were injected with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. This was followed by news on Jan 19 on five other additional deaths among elderly Norwegians who had been similarly vaccinated. What has to be immediately put into context is that these 28 deaths occurred out of 40,000 elderly individuals who were vaccinated in Norway.

This immediately spurred social media to be inundated with concerns on whether the vaccine was safe to be used by elderly individuals. The effects of these concerns are far-reaching and even till now, there are still more than a few elderly individuals who are hesitant on whether to be vaccinated due to fears that the vaccine might be fatal to them.

Experts across the world have looked at the evidence, with teams from individual countries as well as the World Health Organization looking separately to address the specific questions on whether deaths in the elderly are directly linked to the vaccine? Here are the gist of some of their findings.

Of the elderly who died after receiving the vaccine in Norway, all were above the age of 70. About 46% of them were older than 80 and 35% were above the age of 90. These were also individuals who were very old, ill, frail, with many comorbidities and in long-term care.

These were not individuals who were healthy, and it is quite clear that there are many differences between a healthy, walking-about, well-functioning 70-year-old compared to one who is severely ill or bed-bound.

In the case of very old, ill individuals, it must also be understood that there is a high degree of spontaneous mortality. This means that due to their conditions they would most likely succumb easily and die from any event, which may be totally unrelated to the vaccine.

This is the consensus of what the experts say thus far: that the evidence does not suggest that these elderly individuals died because of the vaccine. Rather, their review suggests that the vaccination may have been coincidentally timed with the deaths.

Three major points need to be stressed here. First, evidence from the various clinical trials of different vaccines which involved old and elderly people. The results of these trials did not flag up any kind of danger signal and most importantly, the vaccines proved to be effective as well in providing the immune response desired among this group of people.

Second, this week, vaccination has reached a new total of more than 220 million doses being given and in many countries the priority has been to vaccinate those aged 65 and above (especially in the UK, Europe and the US). There also seems to be no significant danger signal coming out of these large-scale vaccinations – meaning that elderly people seem to be doing well post-vaccination.

Third, it must never be forgotten that older people, especially those who are ill with multiple long-term conditions are at increased risk from dying from Covid. They have the most to benefit from getting vaccinated, and the evidence continues to show that it is a safe and beneficial process.

One of the few good things about Malaysia getting vaccines now, albeit a little delayed, is that we can look back at the data from the many other countries already given the shots and boost our own confidence as well as to assuage our doubts. This data, reported transparently and containing the truth is what we need to rely on …. not unfounded rumours and fake news.

If you would like to get caught up on previous topics covered under this series, they are available as per the links below:

INFOVAX is a community education and awareness series on Covid-19 vaccines brought to you by the Malaysian Medical Association Public Health Society (MMA PHS). Feel free to ask questions and clear your doubts about Covid-19 vaccines by putting them to us at [email protected]. Your questions and answers will be collated and answered in the following sessions.