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The country’s health authorities expect all priority groups, health workers and the elderly, to be vaccinated in April and the rest of the population a little later.
“We have already made vaccination very fast and efficient,” Soren Brostrom, head of the Danish Health Service, said in a statement. He noted that vaccination was carried out in nursing homes for all the elderly only a couple of weeks after the start of vaccination.
Although the largest vaccination campaign in history is just beginning, there are four reasons why the Danish effort is so successful.
Trust in institutions
In explaining why Danes agree to pay one of the highest income taxes in the world, local politicians like to emphasize that Danish society is built on trust. The same goes for science. According to a recent survey by the Carlsberg Foundation, 79 percent of Danes want to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. By comparison, similar figures in Italy and Sweden are 54 and 50 percent, respectively.
“The Danish people are very supportive of vaccination efforts, and their confidence in medical care and their willingness to get vaccinated is indeed one of the highest in Europe,” Brostrom said. “And that gave us a good starting point to activate the process.”
Digital literacy
The northern European region is one of the most advanced in the world in digital technology. Danes use very little cash and are used to communicating with authorities online or through mobile phone apps. A personal identification number, known as a CPR, connects each resident to a centralized national registry, and an email application facilitates communication between institutions and citizens. A centralized database helps health officials prioritize vaccination.
“Our population information, based on the CPR numerical system, is extremely high, making it easy to determine who falls into which category,” Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at the University of Copenhagen, told Bloomberg.
Clear communication
An effective digital infrastructure helps keep people informed, but clear communication is still very important. The country’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her government quickly shut down the economy in the early stages of the pandemic and have been constantly informing the public about the dangers of the virus ever since. Unlike other countries, such as the UK, the Danish government is rarely accused of being left behind.
According to AR Thomsen, the government communicates very clearly. “And” when there is a well thought out plan, people are more likely to trust the system, “he said.
Efficient bureaucracy
Like other Nordic countries, the Danish welfare state is considered one of the best in the world, and health care and education, including university, are free for all. But unlike Sweden or Finland, where the vaccination program depends on the local health authorities, Denmark has centralized the process. This means that vaccine doses are distributed more efficiently and vaccination statistics are published faster than in other countries in the region.
“Our collaboration with the regions, municipalities and GPs in terms of practical vaccination planning is really on the right level and working well,” Brostrom said. All institutions, including the Police and the Armed Forces, were also closely involved, “so that everyone knows what the plans are and how to implement them,” he added.
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