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VACCINE

Norway to give first Covid-19 vaccine doses in Oslo

Norway expects to begin vaccinating against Covid-19 on December 27th if the EU approves the first vaccine by December 23rd.

Published: 17 December 2020 17:51 CET
Norway to give first Covid-19 vaccine doses in Oslo
Photo: AFP

The European Medicines Agency is expected to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine two days before Christmas, with Norway ready to begin distribution of the vaccine shortly after this.

“It is good news that the first approved coronavirus vaccine can arrive in Norway as soon as Christmas Eve,” Prime Minister Erna Solberg said in a statement.

“I think many are breathing a sigh of relief now. It depends on the approval, but there’s reason to believe the vaccine will be approved in Norway,” health minister Bent Høie said in the statement.

Norway will receive vaccines via Sweden, which has taken on the task of selling them to Norway on behalf of the EU.

The first delivery will consist of around 10,000 doses, NRK reports, which is enough to vaccinate 5,000 people given that two doses are required per person.

Following batches are expected to be significantly larger.

Because the initial supply will be small in number, it will not be split and delivered across the country, in part due to logistical challenges related to the cold temperature at which the Pfizer vaccine must be stored.

The first doses will therefore be restricted to the Oslo area.

This is also the part of Norway which has the highest infection rate. The vaccine has a short life span outside of ultra freezers and it is extremely important that no doses go to waste,” Høie said according to NRK.

An expert ethical committee has previously concluded that Norwegians in risk groups should be given first priority for the vaccine.

“Residents at care homes, the elderly and people with other health conditions must be vaccinated first. Then health personnel. After that, the rest of the population,” Høie said.

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COVID-19

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

Sweden's Public Health Agency is recommending that those above the age of 80 should receive two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn, as it shifts towards a longer-term strategy for the virus.

Published: 23 December 2022 10:53 CET
Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

In a new recommendation, the agency said that those living in elderly care centres, and those above the age of 80 should from March 1st receive two vaccinations a year, with a six month gap between doses. 

“Elderly people develop a somewhat worse immune defence after vaccination and immunity wanes faster than among young and healthy people,” the agency said. “That means that elderly people have a greater need of booster doses than younger ones. The Swedish Public Health Agency considers, based on the current knowledge, that it will be important even going into the future to have booster doses for the elderly and people in risk groups.” 

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People between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and young people with risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, poor kidney function or high blood pressure, are recommended to take one additional dose per year.

The new vaccination recommendation, which will start to apply from March 1st next year, is only for 2023, Johanna Rubin, the investigator in the agency’s vaccination programme unit, explained. 

She said too much was still unclear about how long protection from vaccination lasted to institute a permanent programme.

“This recommendation applies to 2023. There is not really an abundance of data on how long protection lasts after a booster dose, of course, but this is what we can say for now,” she told the TT newswire. 

It was likely, however, that elderly people would end up being given an annual dose to protect them from any new variants, as has long been the case with influenza.

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