How Alarming Are These Vaccine Scares?
Potentially harmful side effects in Norway and California need to be explored but aren’t a reason to derail trust in what remain generally safe and effective shots.
Vaccines — from Pfizer-BioNTech, MOderna and others — are key to winning the fight against Covid-19.
Photographer: Rory Doyle/BloombergSam Fazeli, a Bloomberg Opinion contributor who covers the pharmaceutical industry for Bloomberg Intelligence, answered questions about vaccine safety after a rash of possible allergic reactions to Moderna Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine in San Diego prompted a medical expert to recommend withholding some shots from the same batch. This follows reports from Norway earlier in the month of a greater incidence of mortality among elderly who received the Covid-19 shot developed by Pfzer Inc. and BioNTech SE. The conversation has been edited and condensed.
The Moderna vaccine news out of California and Pfizer-BioNTech mortality findings in Norway raised alarms, at least at first blush, and Moderna shares took a hit. How concerning are these things?