The Vaccine War – NRK Urix – Foreign News and Documentaries

What many warned is now becoming a reality. Competition between countries over who will first accelerate mass vaccination against the corona epidemic is in full swing.

Israel, and not least Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has already pointed out that the country has already exceeded one million vaccinated inhabitants.

– We break all records. We are ahead of the whole world, Netanyahu said, when he was present when the million inhabitants were vaccinated.

Netanyahu is campaigning

Netanyahu says that already in February, Israel will be the first country in the world to emerge from the pandemic crisis, thanks to the complete vaccination of the population.

Netanyahu, who has come under heavy pressure from allegations of corruption and political chaos, will try to regain the trust of voters in the March parliamentary elections.

Israel has managed to obtain large supplies of the vaccine from both German Pfizer and Moderna and other manufacturers, and this point has been used by the Prime Minister in the election campaign.

Israel has been hit hard by the corona epidemic. More than 420,000 inhabitants have been infected and 3,325 have died as a result of the virus.

Trouble in France

Great Britain, a non-EU country, has managed to vaccinate about 1 million of its inhabitants. At the same time, big EU countries like Germany, and not least France, are struggling to get started.

So far, France has not reached 1,000 vaccinated, partly because there have been many who have been skeptical about the start of mass vaccination before all possible side effects are clarified.

President Emmanuel Macron promised in his New Year’s speech that he will not allow various objections from individual groups to create obstacles to vaccination.

Slow vaccination also in Finland

Also in Finland there are many who question the speed and organization of vaccination. A summary from the authorities shows that after a week, only about 2,000 people have received the injection.

– Many health personnel, who treat patients with a crown, have been on Christmas holidays, says Mika Ramet to Helsingin Sanomat. She works at the University of Tampere Vaccine Research Center. Ramet estimates that the vaccination will begin in full from Monday. Health workers are the first priority in Finland for vaccination against the corona virus.

However, it is striking that so few have been vaccinated, despite the fact that Finland has already received 50,000 doses of the coronary vaccine and has one of the most effective health systems in the world.

Chief physician Hanna Nohynek of the Finnish Institute of Public Health THL told Ilta Sanomat newspaper that the plan is to vaccinate 20,000 people per week in the future.

Vaccine peace Russia – Ukraine?

At the same time, the fight against the crown has also become part of the bitter dispute between the two Slavic neighbors, Russia and Ukraine.

The director of the Direct Investment Fund in Russia, Kirill Dimitriev, says according to the Moscow radio station Ekko that they are ready to start the production of the Sputnik V vaccine in Ukraine.

Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk says a formal request has now been sent for Sputnik V to be approved.

Zelensky against Putin: raw match?

The request has been sent from the Biolek company in the city of Kharkiv in the east of the country. Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was quick to point out that the Ukrainian authorities must refuse to approve the Russian vaccine, because “this will involve a risk.”

The manufacturer of Sputnik V is in dialogue with the Swedish-British manufacturer AstraZeneca about a collaboration in relation to vaccination against covid-19.

Russia and Ukraine have been in a bitter conflict since 2014 after Russia annexed the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula. Russia has also actively supported pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass. Probably more than 13,000 people lost their lives in the conflict.