--- title: Italy Investigating Possible Flu Vaccine Deaths description: The Italian Pharmaceutical Agency has yet to confirm a link. canonical: https://time.com/3610872/italy-flu-vaccine-deaths/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-30T17:06:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T02:27:13.768Z article:section: World og:title: Italy Investigating Possible Flu Vaccine Deaths og:description: The Italian Pharmaceutical Agency has yet to confirm a link og:url: https://time.com/3610872/italy-flu-vaccine-deaths/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Italy Investigating Possible Flu Vaccine Deaths twitter:description: The Italian Pharmaceutical Agency has yet to confirm a link twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Italy Investigating 11 Deaths Possibly Linked to Flu Vaccine  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Nov 30, 2014 5:06 PM CUT  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Nov 30, 2014 5:06 PM CUT Italy is investigating the [deaths of several people who took an influenza vaccine](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-29/italy-probes-11-deaths-in-novartis-flu-vaccine-review.html "undefined") as the total death toll climbed to 11. An additional eight fatalities possibly related to Novartis AG’s Fluad vaccine have been identified, _Bloomberg_ reports. As a precaution, two batches of the drug were suspended after three people died within 48 hours of getting the shot. “At the moment it’s not possible to confirm that there is a direct link between taking the vaccine and the reported deaths,” the Italian Pharmaceutical Agency said in a statement. “More complete information is necessary and a thorough analysis of the cases must be conducted.” Novartis said Fluad, which was approved in 1997, has a “robust” history of safe usage and that there was “no causal relationship” found between the deaths and the vaccine. \[[_Bloomberg_](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-29/italy-probes-11-deaths-in-novartis-flu-vaccine-review.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3610872/italy-flu-vaccine-deaths/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3610872/italy-flu-vaccine-deaths/"},"headline":"Italy Investigating 11 Deaths Possibly Linked to Flu Vaccine","datePublished":"2014-11-30T17:06:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:27:13.768Z","description":"The Italian Pharmaceutical Agency has yet to confirm a link","url":"https://time.com/3610872/italy-flu-vaccine-deaths/","keywords":["Italy","Vaccines","influenza"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3610872/italy-flu-vaccine-deaths/","name":"Italy Investigating 11 Deaths Possibly Linked to Flu Vaccine"}}]}] ```