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COVID-19

Norway to offer Covid-19 booster jabs to over 65s 

People over 65 in Norway will be offered coronavirus booster jabs six months after their second dose, Minister of Health Bent Høie said on Tuesday. 

Published: 5 October 2021 16:11 CEST
Over 65's will be offered a booster shot in Norway. Pictured is somebody receiving a Covid-19 vaccine.
Over 65's will be offered a booster shot in Norway. Pictured is somebody receiving a Covid-19 vaccine. Photo by Ed Us on Unsplash

Over-65s will be offered a third Covid-19 vaccine to boost their protection against coronavirus, Høie announced at a government briefing. 

“The goal of offering a booster is to increase protection against serious illness. In addition, we hope that refreshing doses will provide extended protection and better protection against new variants,” Høie said. 

The booster dose will be offered six months after their second jab for people who have received the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines or after the same period after one jab of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Janssen vaccine. 

An mRNA vaccine, either Moderna or Pfizer, will be given to those who have had a Johnson & Johnson jab.  

The government has also asked the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) to assess whether a third dose should be offered to healthcare workers under 65. 

“The government has given an assignment to NIPH to assess booster vaccination in health personnel under the age of 65,” Høie said. 

The Norwegian Nurses Association has previously requested that healthcare workers be offered the third dose. 

NIPH will also assess whether it will offer a booster jab to people under 65. 

The decision to offer a booster dose in Norway comes after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced that its human medicines committee (CHMP) concluded that an extra dose of the COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty (BioNTech/Pfizer) may be given to all over-18s. 

READ MORE: EU medicines agency approves Covid-19 booster vaccine for all adults

Director of infection control at the NIPH, Geir Bukholm, said that Norway had been waiting on the EMA’s decision before deciding to press ahead with boosters. 

“EMA approved Pfizer yesterday, and this is a seal of quality to take into account,” Bukholm said. 

The government expects to begin administering booster shots at the turn of the month. The order of who will receive a booster will be the same as when the vaccination program began starting with people aged over 85 and those in nursing homes. 

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HEALTH

Covid-19 still causing 1,000 deaths a week in Europe, WHO warns

The World Health Organization's European office warned on Tuesday the risk of Covid-19 has not gone away, saying it was still responsible for nearly 1,000 deaths a week in the region. And the real figure may be much higher.

Published: 27 June 2023 13:27 CEST
Covid-19 still causing 1,000 deaths a week in Europe, WHO warns

The global health body on May 5 announced that the Covid-19 pandemic was no longer deemed a “global health emergency.”

“Whilst it may not be a global public health emergency, however, Covid-19 has not gone away,” WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge told reporters.

The WHO’s European region comprises 53 countries, including several in central Asia.

“Close to 1,000 new Covid-19 deaths continue to occur across the region every week, and this is an underestimate due to a drop in countries regularly reporting Covid-19 deaths to WHO,” Kluge added, and urged authorities to ensure vaccination coverage of at least 70 percent for vulnerable groups.

Kluge also said estimates showed that one in 30, or some 36 million people, in the region had experienced so called “long Covid” in the last three years, which “remains a complex condition we still know very little about.”

“Unless we develop comprehensive diagnostics and treatment for long Covid, we will never truly recover from the pandemic,” Kluge said, encouraging more research in the area which he called an under-recognised condition.

Most countries in Europe have dropped all Covid safety restrictions but some face mask rules remain in place in certain countries in places like hospitals.

Although Spain announced this week that face masks will no longer be required in certain healthcare settings, including hospitals and pharmacies, with a couple of exceptions.

Sweden will from July 1st remove some of its remaining Covid recommendations for the public, including advice to stay home and avoid close contact with others if you’re ill or have Covid symptoms.

The health body also urged vigilance in the face of a resurgence of mpox, having recorded 22 new cases across the region in May, and the health impact of heat waves.

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