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Chief Physician Preben Aavitsland of the National Institute of Public Health says many will have to wait for the corona vaccine. Photo: Tor Erik Schrøder / NTB
The National Institute of Public Health believes that pressure can be expected to hit the tail when the corona vaccine is deployed.
It is in its latest risk report that the National Institute of Public Health (NIPH) makes the warning. The institute highlights that there is a great demand for vaccination among the public.
On Friday at 11.30 am, the Minister of Health and Sanitary Services, Bent Høie (H), will give a press conference on what the vaccination will be like. Also present will be FHI’s director of infection control, Geir Bukholm, the director of the Norwegian Medicines Agency, Audun Hågå, and the director of health, Bjørn Guldvog.
FHI chief physician Preben Aavitsland notes that the vaccine supply will be limited for many months.
– This means that only some of the people for whom vaccination is recommended can receive the offer immediately. We will have to place an order. Some have to wait, Aavitsland tells NTB.
It makes it clear that municipalities must strictly adhere to the order adopted. There will be no place for local exceptions.
– We hope that the population will respect order, says Aavitsland.
It will take months
The government has already clarified that the corona vaccine will be free. It becomes voluntary to take it.
Prime Minister Erna Solberg (H) has said that it is to be expected that vaccination of priority groups can start already “in early 2021.”
The hope of FHI has been that a large part of the risk group and part of the health personnel are vaccinated before the summer.
But infection control measures will still need to be taken in the coming months, warns Aavitsland.
– Even after vaccination has started, it will be a long time before so many are vaccinated that we can relax, he says.
– Unfortunately, we do not get rid of this epidemic so easily.
Disagreement about the order
The big question the government will now answer is who should be given priority first.
A committee of experts has suggested that risk groups, health professionals and others with critical social functions should be first in line.
The expert committee operates with several different scenarios. In the first, the committee works out a situation in which the authorities largely control the spread of the infection. So people at risk, the elderly and the sick should be first in line. The same applies if there are sprouts in clusters, and when you have only partial control, create the committee.
If, on the other hand, the scenario is about a generalized infection where there is no control, health workers should be vaccinated first, the committee recommends.
But the committee’s proposal has not received unison support. Some doctors have argued that healthcare professionals should be given top priority anyway.
Labor supports expert committees
For its part, the Labor Party believes that the government should listen to the advice of the expert group.
– We believe that the proposal that priority be given to health personnel in case of generalized infection makes sense. Our ability to cope with the pandemic depends entirely on the fact that there are enough people at work and that they do not transmit the infection to patients. I think the government will propose that too, says health policy spokesperson Ingvild Kjerkol (Labor).
– If there is very little infection in society, as we saw this summer, for example, we should prioritize risk groups, he says.
