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COVID-19

Norway says Covid-19 booster jab ‘not needed’ after two doses plus infection

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) does not currently recommend a booster jab against Covid-19 for people who have been infected with the coronavirus since receiving the second dose of their original vaccination.

An illustration photo showing a Covid-19 vaccine being drawn. Norwegian health authorities say a booster jab is not currently needed in cases where Covid-19 infection occurred following the original second dose.
An illustration photo showing a Covid-19 vaccine being drawn. Norwegian health authorities say a booster jab is not currently needed in cases where Covid-19 infection occurred following the original second dose.Photo: Oli SCARFF / AFP

The health authority’s senior medical consultant Professor Preben Aavitsland told national broadcaster NRK via an email that it was “not necessary” for people who had been double-vaccinated but subsequently infected with Covid-19 to receive a booster at the current time.

That advice applies regardless of the variant responsible for the infection, according to the NRK report.

“The purpose of the third dose is to refresh immunity against the coronavirus. If you get infected before the third dose, the virus itself acts as a refresher for immunity. In such cases, this (third dose) is not needed. That applies regardless of variants,” Aavitsland said.

The NIPH official was not alone in stating a booster is not currently needed for those in the position of having been infected with Covid-19 after the first two doses.

“If you are healthy and under 65, then: no. You don’t need it,” senior researcher Gunnveig Grødeland of the University of Oslo said to NRK.

A single vaccine dose followed by infection would be “equivalent to two (vaccine) doses. It would all depend on the time (of infection),” she added.

NIPH recommends a second vaccine dose regardless of whether an infection has taken place between the first and second doses.

In cases where someone has been infected after the first dose, dose two is given three months after the infection.

Both three doses and two doses followed by an infection create an immune response that gives “very good protection against serious illness (with Covid-19),” she added.

Norway recommends a booster Covid-19 vaccine for people over the age of 45 at 20 weeks or four and a half months after the second dose of the original course. The country aims to invite all eligible people for a booster vaccine by mid January.

Latest NIPH data show that 1.2 million people in Norway have already received a booster.

READ ALSO: How does Norway’s Covid-19 booster campaign compare to other countries?

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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.

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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