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Recently, Health Minister Bent Høie announced that in the best case scenario, a vaccine against covid-19 can be approved before Christmas. The population will likely need to be vaccinated in two rounds, which may create further challenges for Norway.
The EU has already ordered 400 million doses of vaccines from pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, which is developing its vaccine in collaboration with the University of Oxford. The EU is also negotiating with vaccine manufacturers Sanofi-GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Curevac and Moderna.
But one dose of vaccine is probably not enough, reports CNN. Both AstraZeneca and Moderna have been administered in two rounds at 28-day intervals relative to clinical trials.
Two doses have also been tested at Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, while Sanofi has not announced how many doses its vaccine will consist of.
Ordinary
Researcher from the Department of Immunology and Transfusion Medicine at the University of Oslo, Gunnveig Grødeland, says this may create challenges for Norway.
– It is very common for vaccines to require two doses. This especially applies to viruses that you have not been exposed to before and therefore have little immunity to them. Double doses help boost immune responses and the body’s immune memory, Grødeland tells Dagbladet, continuing:
– This also creates logistical challenges. In Norway, I think the biggest challenge will be having sufficient access to the vaccine doses and the health personnel to administer the vaccines.
Challenges
Norway receives help from Sweden to secure vaccine doses through the EU procurement agreement, but demand will likely be greater than production capacity at first. Therefore, Norway has established a working group to decide which groups to prioritize.
Norway must also guarantee sufficient syringes and needles.
– In other countries, it can be difficult to get people to appear twice for vaccination. For example, in Norway you will be allowed to leave the workplace for vaccination, although this may be more difficult for many workgroups in the US, Grødeland says.
Agree
Anne Spurkland, an immunologist and professor in the Department of Basic Medical Sciences at the University of Oslo, agrees.
– It is not uncommon for them to be vaccinated in two rounds. Whether it offers challenges depends on the health service. In Norway it is not that difficult to achieve, but in the United States I think it will be a bit more demanding due to the structure of the healthcare system, she tells Dagbladet.
Americans also face challenges with public trust in vaccines. In May, 49 percent of the population responded that they would not take the covid-19 vaccine in a survey published by the AP news agency, while in August the figure was 40 percent in the CNN survey.
High optimist
According to The Guardian summary, there are currently 25 COVID-19 vaccine candidates in phase one, 15 in phase two, and seven in phase three. Health Minister Bent Høie recently stated that the best forecasts show that a vaccine can be approved even before Christmas.
– We work with many promising candidate vaccines. We are working closely with the EU to gain access to vaccines for the Norwegian population, as well as through other initiatives to contribute to access to vaccines outside of Europe, Høie told Dagbladet in August, adding:
– It is very promising, but in this area nothing is certain until approval is obtained. It seems that there may be a good and lasting solution to the situation, so that we can return more to the society that we remember before this pandemic.
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