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KEY PERSON: Richard Bergström negotiates vaccines with the EU on behalf of Norway. Photo: Pontus Orre
Norway has so far completed two agreements on the purchase of vaccines through Sweden. For the Pfizer vaccine, which is closer to approval, the deal means that Norway will receive at least 500,000 doses in the first quarter.
This is what the Swedish vaccine coordinator Richard Bergström tells VG.
– The total volume is 2.5 million doses. So it’s always a little bit uncertain with the form of administration, but at least 500,000 doses come in the first quarter from Pfizer, he says.
Bergström negotiates vaccine purchase agreements for the EU and is also the one who insures the vaccines from Norway. Purchases are made through a program that is reserved for EU member states, but all countries still ship doses to Norway. This is practically done by Sweden by buying these doses and then selling them to Norway.
To date, two such resale agreements have been completed. The Oxford / AstraZeneca candidate vaccine deal was completed in October and the Pfizer deal was completed last week.
It all also depends on the approval of the vaccine. Read more about the process in the VG Vaccine Special.
Probably with a vaccine first
The agreement that Norway has with the EU countries, through Sweden, is that we will receive one percent of each vaccine. What becomes clearer when these agreements are in place is roughly how much companies can deliver and when. Basic figures are data available from the European Commission.
– Sweden does not have an agreement with the companies themselves: it is resale. But the deals have an estimated delivery plan, Bergström says.
The actual draft of a delivery plan is not public information. But overall, it’s in the Pfizer resale agreement that at least 500,000 of Norway’s doses will arrive in the first quarter of 2021, according to Bergström. In total, Norway can buy 2.5 million doses, which is one percent of what the EU has agreed to buy so far, depending on whether the vaccine is approved.
The approval of the Pfizer candidate is scheduled to be debated at an extraordinary meeting of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on December 29.
Of the vaccines that are relevant to Norway, this is the most difficult to distribute because it must be stored cold and only lasts for five days after thawing.
– Initially, in the first weeks, we will probably only have one vaccine, says Bergström.
HARD VACCINE: In this image, the Pfizer vaccine, which must be kept frozen, is distributed to hospitals in the UK. Photo: Gareth Fuller / AFP
These negotiations are ongoing
There are a total of six vaccines that Norway can access through the EU system: Pfizer / BioNTech candidates, Moderna, Oxford / AstraZeneca, Curevac, Sanofi / GSK and Johnson & Johnson.
Efforts are now being made to establish deals for the resale of the remaining four.
Moderna’s candidate is right behind the Pfizer candidate in the approval process – EMA is scheduled to hold a meeting on January 12.
– The modern can come in January, but only in small volumes, says Bergström.
But here the resale agreement is not finished yet. For both Moderna and Curevac, the EU’s hiring arrangements became clear recently, he says.
– These companies are completely new to the market and have no subsidiaries in Norway. So the first thing we had to do was find out who we are going to argue with; it was much easier with Pfizer and Oxford / AstraZeneca, who have experience with what distribution is like in different countries, he says.
At least a million doses of Oxford
In Norway’s agreement on reselling the Oxford vaccine with Sweden, it is estimated that Norway will be able to receive at least one million doses, but probably around 1.5 million doses, in the first quarter, Bergström says. In total, Norway can receive 3.4 million doses of this vaccine.
Bergström acknowledges that the vaccines for Pfizer, Moderna and Oxford will be the ones he will want to try in the early part of 2021.
– Since then, I believe that both Curevac, with which the EU has a great agreement, and Johnson & Johnson will come from April. There’s a high-volume deal, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires only one dose, so it’s very helpful, he says.
Assuming that all vaccines are actually approved in the EU system, it will be possible for many doses of vaccines to arrive in Norway before the summer.
– The Swedish Minister of Social Affairs has said that the entire adult population of Sweden will be able to receive a vaccine until the summer; this will also apply to Norway.
When it comes to the Oxford vaccine, the company is waiting for a large study that is ongoing in the US before they are ready to apply for conditional approval in the EU system, he says.
Read more about the vaccine candidates by clicking on them in the graphic below:
Problem for the vaccine candidate
Sanofi’s vaccine candidate is on the back – on Friday, they announced that the vaccine is not effective enough in the elderly, and therefore decided to further develop the vaccine and begin new studies.
– It may take a few more months. They are about five months behind the other candidates, and the results of the first studies were not so good, he says.
At the same time, he notes that the results weren’t necessarily bad:
– As this type of vaccine like Pfizer has been shown to be so effective with a 95 percent protection rate, it has consequences for everyone who develops vaccines. The standard goes up. So if a vaccine comes later, it must be really good, and this is how my experts and I interpret those results: that the vaccine works, but that it was not good enough.
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