Health Minister Bent Høie: – – Must be open to uncertainty

– When we re-vaccinate the population against a contagious disease, we must strive to have an even clearer communication related to what we do not know, and not just what we know, says Bent Høie by phone to Dagbladet.

Dagbladet has recently written several articles about the campaign related to the mass vaccination against swine flu in 2009-2010, and how health authorities failed to report that the vaccine had not been properly tested in children.

– One of the things that was not communicated clearly enough was that the specific vaccine was tested to a very small extent in children and young people, says Høie.

In retrospect, 859 Norwegians have applied to the state for compensation for patient injuries. 156 of them have been confirmed.

You did not know this

More extensive tests

Health Minister Høie says that swine flu taught us something about knowing the vaccine approval scheme.

– Now you have a much more comprehensive test of individual vaccines in advance, he says.

For vaccines now on the rise in the vaccine race, at least 30,000 people are participating in the studies, of which at least half receive the actual vaccine. In the swine flu vaccine, just under 5,000 people had participated in the trial of the precursor, the so-called model vaccine. 130 people had tried exactly the vaccine that millions of Europeans received.

Part of the reason the vaccine is being tested in many more people this time than in the case of swine flu is that the coronavirus is a new virus. But it is also because both the industry and approval authorities have found out since last time, according to the health minister.

– The attitude now with the European approval authorities is that they do not approve vaccines for children and young people without being tested on them, says Høie.

During the previous pandemic, Høie was chairman of the health and care committee at the Storting. He took the Pandemrix vaccine himself, along with his party partner Erna Solberg. It had no side effects.

– Narcolepsy is very serious for those who suffer from this side effect, but it is a relatively rare side effect, says Høie.

Kid approved, no testing

Affected child

Children and young people in particular were affected by narcolepsy after vaccination against swine flu. One of the things that separates the situation then and the one we find ourselves now is that 11 years ago children could become seriously ill.

Because children have a lower risk of becoming seriously ill from the coronavirus and contribute less to the spread of the infection, they will now not be first in the queue for vaccines, says the Minister of Health.

– This time, children and young people will not be vaccinated or will go very far in the vaccination process, he says.

Side effect reporting has improved since the last pandemic as it is now reported digitally. This means there will be more efficient reporting this time around, according to Høie. It will now be possible to detect rarer side effects in the general population, before possibly starting vaccination of children and young people, Høie emphasizes.

– it hurts to read

Geir Jørgen Bekkevold (KrF) is the head of the Storting’s health and care committee. He understands that some fear that knowledge of the side effects of the swine flu vaccine could lead to increased resistance to the vaccine. But he still thinks Dagbladet has the right to write about it now.

– Is there anything we have learned from the swine flu vaccine? It is that we need openness, especially about what we do not know, he says and adds:

– I am worried about counteracting the fear of vaccines. But here you can have two thoughts in your head at the same time. The cases and stories you have uncovered tell me that we need more openness.

Bekkevold adds that she thinks it hurts to read about the many young people who have ruined their lives.

Bekkevold emphasizes that the covid vaccines to come represent something new and are being tested in many more than the swine flu vaccine.

Children have to wait

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health has created a committee of experts to review the prioritization of the vaccine.

In December, the government will make a decision on how the vaccine will be distributed to the population, based, among other things, on input from this committee of experts. Older and sick people should be the first to receive the corona vaccine, according to the expert committee.

– The Norwegian Institute of Public Health is working on a plan for the vaccination of the part of the population to be vaccinated. They have a final deadline of December 1, Høie says.

This is how Covid vaccines should be approved urgently

In 2009, the vaccine was recommended to all people older than 6 months, after it had been received by risk groups.

The director of the National Institute of Public Health, Camilla Stoltenberg, had previously emphasized to Dagbladet that now a vaccination plan will be discussed, where a new benefit versus risk assessment will be made for each individual population group.

Which vaccines Norway has access to, and which ones come first, will also affect the plan for how a vaccine is offered.

Expensive measurements

Covid-19 has been shown to be a much more serious illness than swine flu.

Health Minister Høie believes that the measures of the past six months have shown us the costs of tackling the pandemic without a vaccine.

– We see how intrusive are the measures we now have to live with to protect ourselves against infection, he says.

Each of us must consider whether we want a vaccine when it becomes available.

– In Norway, vaccination is voluntary. We, as authorities, must spread good knowledge about the vaccines that we approve and recommend, so that each individual has the best possible basis to express an opinion on whether they want a vaccine or not, says Høi.

Immunity must be up to 70 percent in the adult population to obtain general protection in society. So the current strict infection control measures can be phased out, Høie says. This does not mean that we have to wait until vaccine coverage is this high before we can ease the restrictions. In parallel with the development of vaccines, better knowledge about the spread of infection and new methods of treatment for the disease itself can also help change the situation we have today, believes Bent Høie.

Increased fear

Some readers have reacted to the fact that Dagbladet’s coverage of swine flu and the side effects of that vaccine can lead to fear and resistance to a corona vaccine. Dagbladet asks if Health Minister Høie thinks it’s stupid to address this now.

– No I dont think so. I think it is natural for the media to highlight experiences with past vaccine programs. Then you have to transmit the knowledge in a good and sober way, so that people are not unnecessarily intimidated, but that it provides a basis for reflection. And I perceive that it is, says Høie.

Bekkevold at KrF emphasizes that decisions around swine flu 11 years ago were made based on the best of intentions:

– In hindsight, we see that things could have been done differently, especially in terms of openness about the risk of the disease and the risk of the vaccine. This is one of the difficult dilemmas and trade-offs that health authorities face, but decisions were made based on the best possible intentions and knowledge. Norway is not an “island” either, but it was influenced by the WHO and the EMA, of which Norway is also a part, he says.