A post on social media has been shared thousands of times claiming that the ‘mainstream media’ was silent after 23 elderly people died in Norway after receiving the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
The Facebook post was uploaded on January 16, 2021 and contains a screenshot of two articles claiming ‘American media silence’ and ’23 elderly people killed ‘after the vaccination in Norway. (here)
The Facebook post did not have contextual details. Norway vaccinates residents of care homes, including those with serious underlying diseases. On average, 400 people die every week in nursing homes and long-term care facilities in the Nordic country. Therefore, some among this population are expected to die from unrelated causes after receiving the vaccination.
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health investigated 13 of the 23 reported deaths on 18 January and did not conclude that the vaccines were to blame. Camilla Stoltenberg, head of the agency, said at a news conference: ‘These are people who are very old, debilitated and have serious illnesses … It is not a given that it (the deaths) is a death or causality is not. ‘ (here)
The claim that the media was ‘silent’ about the deaths is also inaccurate. By the time the message was uploaded, the deaths had been covered by Bloomberg (here), Associated Press (here), Australia’s 7 News (here).
VERDICT
Missing context. Newspapers were not ‘quiet’ after 23 Norwegian vaccine recipients died. The deaths were reported by media, including Reuters, which provided the additional context that deaths were expected among the elderly nursing home, and that investigators did not conclude that the deaths were caused by the vaccine.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.