A senior expert believes the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine will be safe for mass use in Australia despite dozens of deaths in Norway.
Norwegian authorities have revealed 29 people have died after getting the jab and an urgent investigation is underway into the causes.
While the Australian government said it will be proceeding with an 'abundance of caution', medical experts believe it's not as bad as it sounds.
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Senior CSIRO Health and Biosecurity director Dr Rob Grenfell told Channel 9 people who are older than 50 should 'seriously consider' getting the vaccine as the likelihood of hospitalisation increases dramatically with age.
Dr Grenfell said while the deaths in Norway were concerning, they should be looked at in context.
"Anyone in an aged care facility is usually very frail and also has multiple illnesses," he told The Today Show.
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"What needs to be sorted out from these cases is were these deaths related to, caused by, or have no relation whatsoever to the vaccine that they were given."
The vaccine was first given to Norway's elderly and those with serious health issues.
The country's medical regulator said fever and nausea were common reactions to the coronavirus vaccine and these conditions could have contributed to their death.
"Most people have experienced the expected side effects of the vaccine, such as nausea and vomiting, fever, local reactions at the injection site, and worsening of their underlying condition," a statement from the Norwegian Medicines Agency said.
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Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has asked the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to look into the deaths to see whether the same thing could happen in Australia.
The TGA has highlighted that some of the people who died were already very old and some only had a few months to live.
The regulatory body will report back to Australian officials when they have examined each case.
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Health Department secretary Brendan Murphy told the ABC: "I'm not unduly concerned. We're trying to get more information about it.
"It's not clear how directly related to the deaths it was. The TGA is looking at this information. The TGA will look at that with its registration.
"We've always taken the view that we needed a diversified vaccine tragedy."
Another expert has weighed into the issue and highlighted that some of the deaths might not be related to the vaccine at all.
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Julie Leask, a vaccine advisor to the World Health Organisation, said while the investigation into the deaths is yet to be fully completed, it's highly likely that many of these patients were close to death.
"Of course we should be watching, vaccine safety is very important," the University of Sydney Professor said.
"But these are people who are vulnerable, they're very elderly, some are terminally ill, so the trick here is figuring out whether the vaccine has anything to do with it. Usually in these cases it does not and it's coincidence."
Featured Image Credit: PA