Expert committee believes that the elderly and infirm should receive coronary vaccine first – NRK Norway – Summary of news from different parts of the country

– The most important thing, in my view, is that what should count is equality and equal treatment, not social status. And there is the risk of death and serious illness, which should be the guiding principle, committee member Reidun Førde tells NRK.

She is part of the expert committee appointed by the National Institute of Public Health to provide information on how limited doses of vaccines should be prioritized in Norway during the spring.

It is the government that makes the final decision on the prioritization of vaccine doses. This should be ready by December 1st.

The committee believes that the consideration that outweighs anything else when launching the vaccine is preventing serious illness and death.

Those most at risk of dying are the roughly 1.6 million Norwegians who are in the risk group for seasonal flu. These largely coincide with covid-19 risk groups.

If Norway only receives a few hundred thousand doses of vaccine in the first few months, Førde believes that it will be necessary to prioritize within risk groups as well. But the expert committee has not.

– An ethics group like this cannot come in and begin to refine these difficult assessments. We also don’t really know how these vaccines work in different age and risk groups.

– Who will then come in and assess whether we should prioritize nursing home residents or young cancer patients?

– Health authorities must do so, based on the knowledge we have and the guidelines that have been set.

Healthcare professionals have to wait

Initially, health personnel receive a second priority in the priority proposed by the committee.

But they suggest that the queue should be dynamic and that health personnel move to the first priority if Norway ends up in a situation with the so-called generalized infection.

Førde is ready for reactions.

– Some may say that we stand our ground and act so hard, why shouldn’t we get special protection when we are exposed to infection? But then you can say that there are others who are too. But it’s a hot potato, Førde admits.

Union leader Lill Sverresdatter Larsen from the Norwegian Nurses Association mainly agrees with the prioritization. But remember that health personnel have priority during routine flu vaccinations, to avoid further infection in the health service.

– In that sense, this is a demotion, says Larsen.

Larsen says the vaccines will likely only receive conditional approval when used. This means that they have not been tested as widely as regular vaccines.

This means that some of its members are also concerned.

– There is also unease among our members regarding the risks associated with conditionally approved vaccines. These are new vaccines, with new methods, that have not been tested in humans as we know them from other vaccines. At the same time, we are completely dependent on vaccination to achieve immunity. We can’t go on like this, Larsen says.

It’s not just the nurses who have to wait, if the government uses the committee’s recommendation.

Storting politicians, members of the government or other members of society should also not have precedence in the queue if the infection is not widespread, believes Reidun Førde.

– So being a member of the government, for example, shouldn’t provide any benefits?

– No, not in the first place. Not if you are competing with people who are much more likely to die. Then it can be argued that the country depends on a functioning government, as Belgium has shown. It’s hard.

Opens to prioritize “red” areas

The committee also believes that it may make sense to consider so-called geographic prioritization. This means that residents who are in risk groups and live in the reddest areas of the country receive the vaccine before others.

The prerequisite is that there are large geographic differences in the spread of infection when vaccination begins.

Right now, the cities of Drammen and Bergen, as well as the Bjerke, Alna and Grorud districts of Oslo, are among those with the highest infection pressure.

In Drammen, around 700 per 100,000 residents have been infected in the last 14 days.

– It is the case that if there are areas with a very dense infection, and you also have a limited life and lack of opportunities to spread, then you can get the best possible benefit by entering and offering the vaccine in those areas, says Førde.

– So can you prioritize, for example, the Bjerke district of Oslo?

– That’s the thinking behind it. But if you should then start with the risk groups in those areas and not give to the others, I don’t know. We haven’t talked about that.