– Corona vaccine is not the cause, says Espen Nakstad at the Directorate of Health – NRK Oslo and Viken – Local news, TV and radio

Yesterday, NRK reported on the situation in emergency wards at several Norwegian hospitals. Several warnings about an increase in patient influx and capacity has been put to the test.

Leader of the Association for Emergency and Hospital Medicine, Jørn Einar Rasmussen, he described the situation as disturbing and inexplicable.

The news has led many to speculate that corona vaccine may be the cause of so many sufferers this year. Both on social media and in messages to NRK, many doubt the vaccine is actually safe.

There are few reasons for this, according to assistant health director Espen Rostrup Nakstad.

Absolves the vaccine

– This year we have seen a 4% increase in emergency admissions compared to 2019. This is distributed differently. There is hardly any increase in northern and central Norway. If the vaccine were the explanation, we would see a rise across the country, says Nakstad.

It explains the increase in the flow of patients with changes in the population.

– This probably has the biggest connection with the fact that we have become more people. Population growth was greatest in southeastern Norway. We also see the highest number of admissions there. Plus, more and more people are getting older, Nakstad says.

– Unwanted side effects of the corona vaccine have been discovered. Can the vaccine be fully acquitted in this context?

– Vaccines are monitored through a notification system in all countries and possible side effects are closely monitored. No excess mortality has been recorded so far, but we have seen some mild side effects that were expected. This will be monitored for several years to come, Nakstad says.

– No connection

Nor does FHI find any link between different hospitalizations and the vaccine.

– Healthcare professionals have a duty to report serious incidents suspected to be vaccine related to FHI. Reporting of side effects has declined and has remained consistently low since March 2022. Fewer than ten cases have been reported per month when it comes to side effects among those admitted to hospital, says department head Are Stuwitz Berg of the Institute of Public Health.

Furthermore, according to Berg, there was no increase in side effects after the booster doses, nor the new variants of the vaccine.

The high mortality is probably due to the crown

Statistics Norway data shows a dramatic increase in mortality in Norway in 2022.

3,250 more deaths have been recorded so far this year than in the same period in 2019, which corresponds to an excess of mortality of more than 10%.

This too has a natural explanation, Nakstad believes.

– In total, over 4,000 deaths per crown have been recorded in Norway. Many of these have arrived this year and this will have an impact on mortality.

According to Nakstad, there was insufficient mortality during parts of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

– Those who have not yet been affected by the pandemic have aged and are therefore more vulnerable, he says.

Data from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health shows that 4,208 people have lost their lives to the coronavirus so far. Most of the people who die are over 80 and 60% live in nursing homes.