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Denmark adjusts expected date for completion of Covid-19 vaccination programme

Everyone in Denmark who wants to be inoculated against Covid-19 will be given the chance to do so by June 27th, according to an updated health authority plan.

Published: 15 February 2021 17:13 CET
Denmark adjusts expected date for completion of Covid-19 vaccination programme
Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

The Danish Health Authority has moved the expected completion date forward by a week, according to information published on its website on Monday.

The brings the expected date for completion of second doses back to June 27th. It was previously moved from June 27th to July 4th. Delayed or reduced shipments of vaccines have earlier been advised by suppliers Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna.

But Pfizer is now expected to increase deliveries, while AstraZeneca will supply fewer than previously slated.

“Overall this means we can look forward to receiving 900,000 more doses than we expected to as of last week – and that means that we can expect to have vaccinated everyone who wants this… no later than June 27th,” Danish Health Authority director Søren Brostrøm said in a statement.

“As such, most of the population will be completely vaccinated when we reach the summer holidays,” Brostrøm added.

The agency stressed that the plan remains based on prognoses over vaccine deliveries as well as the approval of a new vaccine from Johnson & Johnson. It is therefore subject to change.

A broad section of the population is in the so-called lowest priority ‘group 12’, encompassing people not in higher risk groups due to age or underlying conditions or of higher priority due to their job or close relation to an at risk person.

That group can expect to begin vaccination in May.

READ ALSO: When and how can foreign residents get the Covid-19 vaccine in Denmark?

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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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