Several nurses are concerned about the vaccine – NRK Norway – Summary of news from different parts of the country

Several nurses are reporting now. Vaccines develop quickly and will likely only receive conditional approval. This means that they have not been tested as widely as regular vaccines.

– In the last few weeks alone, I have received around 50 messages and emails from nurses saying they don’t want to be on the front line also with a view to a vaccine. Here’s what union leader Lill Sverresdatter Larsen from the Norwegian Nurses Association says.

It is still clear to him and says that the association recommends that its members get vaccinated.

– Nurses are part of the normal population who also have a concern and uncertainty regarding whether vaccines are sufficiently developed, says Larsen.

Old and sick first

Yesterday, an expert committee appointed by the National Institute of Public Health presented its recommendation on how limited doses of vaccines should be prioritized in Norway during the spring.

Health professionals, members of the government and others in socially critical roles must align. The elderly and infirm should receive the coronary vaccine first, the committee believes.

Health professionals basically have a second priority. This is what union leader Lill Sverresdatter Larsen of the Norwegian Nurses Association agrees with, but says some are still concerned.

– The concern is that there will be a conditional approval of vaccines. This may mean that there are some side effects that haven’t been detected well enough yet, he says.

Prioritization between people in risk groups

If Norway only receives a few hundred thousand doses of vaccines in the first few months, authorities must also prioritize within risk groups, says Professor Reidun Førde, who has served on the expert committee.

– We do not know how the vaccines will fully work, in which age groups they will work best, or how long they will work. It may have some side effects. There are a lot of things we don’t know, says Førde.

She believes that starting to prioritize in the highest risk group already now is completely impossible.

– Health authorities and politicians should do this as we gather more knowledge, he says.

GPs should consider

– When vaccines are to be launched, it is essential that the work is well organized, says Marte Kvittum Tangen, leader of the Norwegian Association of General Medicine.

You fear ambiguities and that it will be difficult to prioritize.

– What worries me the most is that it is not possible to find first the patients who most need the vaccine, he says.

– How can that happen?

– If you choose an organization in which it is not taken into account that it is the GPs who have the most knowledge about which patients have which diseases, there is a risk that it is not a fair priority, he says.

Tangen believes that it is very important that GPs are listened to and given an important role in this work.

She has a lot of faith in the vaccines that are being developed now, but says this has gone very quickly:

– This has gone at record speed and a vaccine has never been developed in such a short time. It is clear that one should be able to withdraw a vaccine, if one sees that it has unfortunate side effects, he says.

Although many are unsure, the nurses union is not in doubt. They recommend that all their members get vaccinated.

– I received a message from a nurse saying that she will be the first in line to get vaccinated, if she can help her not to infect her patients and that she can hug her parents again. This is what Lill Sverresdatter Larsen of the Norwegian Nurses Association says.

She believes that it is important to trust the evaluation of the health authorities and to get vaccinated whenever possible.

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