The researchers behind the study of the vaccine have been paid by competitors

Recently, several Norwegian researchers published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. There, they confirmed a link between the Astra Zeneca vaccine and severe cases of blood clots and thrombocytopenia that affected five Norwegian healthcare workers shortly after they received the vaccination.

Now type Norwegian VG And the Class struggle Several of the study authors, including Pål André Holme, professor and chief physician at the University of Oslo Hospital, have financial links with other companies that manufacture vaccines.

Holmy, for example, has received more than a million kroner from competitors Pfizer and Bayer over the past five years. It is compensation for various lectures, teaching opportunities and participation in expert committees. For example, the co-authors were paid by Janssen for the lectures, or owned stakes in the companies developing vaccines or had or held senior positions in Medtech companies.

Despite this, none of the researchers mentioned that they considered there was any potential conflict of interest in relation to the study. In the attached Supplementary Form, all have identified the issue of whether other relevant parties have paid them within the past 36 months.

“He could be considered unhappy.”

Pål André Holme writes to VG He and his colleagues did not consider the communication to be relevant to its reporting.

Pål André Holme, professor and chief physician at the University Hospital of Oslo. Photo: Terry Pedersen

“We are aware that it may be seen as regrettable for our neutrality that we did not provide payment information from all vaccine related pharmaceutical companies in connection with the article in the New England Journal of Medicine. We should have done so, although we still believe that this is not for him. Direct link to the medical content that we have published in the article. “

He further writes that the entire group of authors subsequently chose to complete the supplementary form.

According to Ali Harandy, Associate Professor and Head of the Vaccine Laboratory at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, similar links are not common.

“Sometimes excellent researchers have links with companies or for-profit organizations. As long as the relevant teams are reported in the studies, they are not a problem,” he writes in an email to the GP.

He notes that he does not know the details of how and when the orchestras were reported, but he adds that openness in scientific publications is important.