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COVID-19

Sweden speeds up third vaccine dose for over-65s

The Swedish Public Health Agency has announced new recommendations that third vaccine doses for over-65s may now be given after five months – one month earlier than previously recommended.

Published: 10 November 2021 14:54 CET
vaccine being administered
Over-65s no longer need to wait as long between vaccine doses. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

The reason for this change is to enable more over-65s to be vaccinated as soon as possible.

The Public Health Agency expects that infection levels will increase over the next few months, leading the agency to shorten the recommended interval between doses so that as many as possible will have increased protection against Covid-19 in the upcoming winter season.

“We can see an increased spread of infection in many countries in Europe, and following our scenarios, we can count on there being an increase in Sweden as well. With a shorter interval between dose two and the extra dose, more will be able to be vaccinated as soon as possible, and have good protection against the disease before the Christmas holiday,” said Anders Tegnell, state epidemiologist, in a statement.

Currently, extra doses of the vaccine are recommended for all over-65s, as well as some people working in elderly care and at-home care.

Sweden expects to roll out booster shots to everyone eventually, but it will happen in steps in winter and spring.

The new recommended shorter interval between doses only applies to over-65s – all others offered a third dose must still wait six months before they can be vaccinated.

It is ultimately Sweden’s 21 regions that decide when to open the third round of vaccinations to their residents. To find out how to get your third dose in your region, go to the 1177.se healthcare website and select your region under välj region in the menu bar.

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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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