The Scandinavian nation of Norway has a special compensation program associated with the nationwide COVID-19 mass vaccination program. Known as the Norwegian System of Patient Injury Compensation (NPE) this organization has identified three cases approved for compensation due to serious adverse events or death. Involving two female health care workers and a male—all in their 30s—two of the individuals have long lasting adverse events while one of the women died. A total of 77 people in Norway have made claims that are now under consideration by the NPE for compensation. A majority of the incidents are associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, originally developed at University of Oxford and known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. Much hope was associated with this vaccine as it’s properties and price point has made it easier to distribute around the world, especially to low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs). The investigational vaccine candidate ran into delays during clinical trials due to adverse events and in fact the studies in the United States never led to emergency use authorization (EUA). The use of this vaccine in several Northern European coun...
