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– So far, Norway has received a shipment on December 26 with 9,750 doses, also 35,000 doses two days later. They have been shipped across the country, FHI Director Camilla Stoltenberg tells TV 2.
But so far only 2,113 vaccinated have been registered in Norway.
– There are not many for now, but it is about the municipalities getting it just a few days ago.
By comparison, more than 40,000 have received the first vaccine injection in Denmark. Therefore, the Danes have vaccinated 0.7% of the population, while Norway has vaccinated 0.04% so far.
In conflict
– It will be a great climb in the future, promises Stoltenberg.
– You yourself say that there are enough. Are you happy with the pace so far?
– It is very special that you received your vaccine doses first on Christmas Day and then December 28, so it has only been a few days to judge this based on what has happened so far. We have expected it to be a bit slow in the beginning when the municipality has to adapt this to their conditions. At the same time, we must remember that municipalities have been in a situation of increasing infections and monitoring infections for several weeks, and they also reported that mandatory tests will be introduced after the first day after entry, says Stoltenberg.
– The question was if you were happy with the rhythm.
– It’s a bit early to say that if we don’t make further progress now after tomorrow, we’ll consider what we should do, says Stoltenberg.
In its note to the government on mandatory border testing, FHI expressed concern that this goes beyond vaccination.
“Furthermore, mandatory testing may conflict with a great need for local efforts to successfully implement vaccines. In part it will be the same people who will have to take care of both tasks, ”says the memo.
– Are you now sitting and considering if you should do something different?
– We evaluate this every day, in fact, and we have close contact with the municipalities, says the director of FHI.
Must deal with changing messages
Stoltenberg said at a news conference Sunday night that municipalities have a lot to do with considering the provisions that have been made about who should get the vaccine.
– It is complex logistics for municipalities to handle this. It’s important that they use all doses and get two doses of each vaccine for the exact people who should get it, at least until there are changes to that regimen, Stoltenberg said.
He also said that municipalities must take into account that things can change and that there may be new messages that make them have to work in a different way.
– But they must deal with ever-changing messages about when vaccines arrive, how they should be administered, how many doses can be withdrawn from each glass, etc. We are concerned that it will happen calmly and safely at the same time, as it will happen much faster in the future than it has happened so far, said the director of FHI.
Too early to consider
Prime Minister Erna Solberg (H) said Sunday night that the vaccination program will not start in full until Monday.
– Is the Prime Minister satisfied with the progress?
– Yes, I think we should consider progress when we have seen it begin. In fact, Monday is the start of vaccines in Norway beyond the first rounds. Most municipalities have chosen to wait for this. It’s also been to have everything logistically in place starting tomorrow, I think, Solberg said at the press conference Sunday night.
In Israel and the UK, about 1 million people have been vaccinated so far. Solberg noted that the UK urgently approved the vaccine before the EU, something Norway decided to wait for.
The Prime Minister believes that it is too early to conclude anything before some time has passed.
– We will prefer to analyze whether this has worked well enough after 14 days or three weeks have passed and we will see how well we have done it, said the Prime Minister.