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It was a real gift before Christmas. Health Minister Bent Høie served in the Storting hall on Thursday afternoon.
– Then I have very good news to bring. The vaccine may arrive in Norway on Christmas Eve, Høie says.
– Eerily high numbers
Wait approval
On Tuesday it was announced that the European Medicines Agency has accelerated the meeting where the Pfizer vaccine is expected to be approved. According to Høie, the vaccine is expected to receive the green light on Christmas Eve, and the next day will be the first doses on Norwegian soil.
– We hope that the vaccine receives conditional approval, says Høie.
– I’m very happy.
According to Høie, there are approximately 10,000 doses of vaccines that will arrive in Norway in the first delivery. This means that 5,000 people can be vaccinated, as the vaccine is given in two doses.
– This means that we can start vaccination on December 27, 28 and 29, says Høie.
Oslo is the first
For risk reasons, only Oslo will have access to the first doses.
Since the government has decided that nursing home residents will receive the first and long-awaited doses of the vaccine, the first dose will be placed in a nursing home in Oslo.
Which nursing home and who will get the credit for receiving the first dose will be decided later, Høie says.
– Very quickly during the New Year, we will receive additional deliveries and those deliveries will be distributed equally, he says.
The next installments are expected to be significantly larger.
Warns
– With this news, is there nothing more that a Minister of Health could wish for at Christmas?
– If it is. I am concerned about infection rates in Norway and we must be good and not meet too many people. Now there are many in Norway who walk and do not know that they are infected, and there is too high a risk of increase. I don’t want us to start the new year with big closings, Høie warns.
– 2021 will be much worse than many think
He is also concerned about the infection situation in the countries of Norway.
“Unfortunately, it seems like some of our neighbors are going through a very difficult Christmas, and I think that is sad to think about,” he says.
Already on Tuesday, the authorities began to deploy the important vaccination team in Norway. There are, for example, syringes, syringe tips, disinfectant wipes, plastic waste cans and much more.
By Friday this week, all Norwegian municipalities should have plans ready on how vaccination can be carried out.
