Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

VACCINE

Private Danish company gets permission to vaccinate with AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson jabs

People in Denmark can now register for medical consultation with a view to being given a Covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson outside of the country’s national vaccination programme.

Published: 21 May 2021 16:25 CEST
Private Danish company gets permission to vaccinate with AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson jabs
Denmark now allows private company Practio to dispense Covid-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.Photo: Henry Nicholls/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix

The Central Jutland administrative region for healthcare signed an agreement with the company, Practio, on Friday, the Ministry of Health confirmed in a statement. The agreement was made on behalf of all Danish regions.

The vaccines from the two companies have both been withdrawn by Danish health authorities from the national vaccination programme because a very small risk of serious side effects combined with the stable situation of the Covid-19 pandemic in Denmark reducing the urgency to use them, health authorities previously said.

Only the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are in general use in Denmark, which currently expects to complete vaccination of its population by the end of August.

Earlier this week, Health Minister Magnus Heunicke signed an order allowing the two scrapped vaccines to be distributed by private companies under an informed consent system.

People interesting in receiving one of the vaccines must first attend a medical consultation with a doctor, who can choose not to allow them to proceed with vaccination and instead wait to be invited for vaccination under the national programme.

The company will begin its first medical consultations on Saturday, Practio doctor and co-founder Anders Nilsen confirmed.

“After this, the doctor and member of the public will decide whether it’s right for them to be given a vaccine via the elective system, and if the doctor concurs, they can arrange this,” Nilsen said.

A preference for either of the two vaccines can be taken into account as part of the assessment.

The first vaccinations under the scheme are expected to be given in Copenhagen next week, with centres also on the way elsewhere in Denmark.

Heunicke gave his backing to the new system for the two vaccines.

“I’m very satisfied that we now have the formalities in place so that the first jabs with the scheme can be given next week,” the minister said in the Ministry of Health statement.

According to Practio, 20,000 people have already registered for the scheme as of Friday. Registration does not confer obligation to take a vaccine.

On Wednesday, Denmark gave around 50,000 vaccines with the Pfizer and Moderna jabs under the general vaccination programme.

The Danish College of General Practitioners has stated its opposition to the arrangement.

“There are still no criteria that can be used to find out who is suitable for the vaccine – you cannot give informed consent,” said the professional body’s chairperson, Anders Beich.

The Danish Medical Association took a similar stance but is not advising its members not to take part in provision of consultations.

“We still find it difficult to see how the new guidance helps individual doctors to conduct a concrete individual assessment,” said chairperson Camilla Noelle Rathcke.

READ ALSO:

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

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.” 

READ ALSO: 

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.

SHOW COMMENTS