[ad_1]
PRIME MINISTER: Erna Solberg (H). Photo: Fredrik Solstad
If a vaccine arrives in Norway in December, it will first go to a nursing home in the Oslo area according to a distribution list, according to the prime minister.
– Actually, there are practical reasons for this: there will be little that we have been suggested to come in the first place, and they only offer one place. After that, Pfizer drives to various places, but after all the sun brands, we get a small delivery for which a distribution list is made, Erna Solberg tells VG.
Vaccine doses may be available from December, if Pfizer’s candidate vaccine is approved in the EU system. The first doses can go to Oslo and the surrounding municipalities, also in Østfold, according to the prime minister. Who receives it depends on how much it comes, if at all.
– It will be in nursing homes in Oslo and the neighboring areas of Oslo, where the pressure of infection is high, he says.
FHI is considering who should get the first doses in December, but what principles it will be based on has not yet been decided, says Chief Physician Preben Aavitsland at FHI:
– We consider all considerations and return with information when it is decided. There are many things that come into play.
He explained that the reason why vaccines arrive first in the Oslo area is that there are too few doses to distribute in all municipalities.
Read more about the complicated process of how Pfizer vaccine can be shipped to cold rooms in Norway in specially made boxes for this case.
– Unpredictability
It will gradually become more challenging: it has not yet been announced how many vaccines Norway will be able to receive from January, nor when they will arrive, when they will be distributed and sent to municipalities.
– We still don’t have a good enough overview. I think it’s just the unpredictability around it that means we haven’t received any clearer figures on how quickly it will arrive, says Solberg.
These are things that will be continually updated as you go through the approval processes, she says.
– It is very important that you share and make sure all countries get the same amount.
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, according to Sweden’s vaccine coordinator.
The agreement that Norway has with the EU countries, through Sweden, is that we will receive one percent of each vaccine.
Read all about the approval processes and vaccines that are relevant to Norway in the VG vaccine special.
– Must have vaccine everywhere
When it is planned to start shipping the vaccines in Norway in January, the vaccines will be distributed evenly among the municipalities based on the number of inhabitants in the priority groups.
– We have national measures and disease outbreaks can occur anywhere. So we must have a vaccine everywhere, because the consequences for those in vulnerable groups are the same no matter where you live in Norway at the time the infection occurs, Solberg says.
She emphasizes that nursing home residents and the elderly are the first priority.
– This is because we do not necessarily know if the vaccine stops the spread, but rather stops the development of the disease in the individual, he says, but adds:
– We have this strategy that risk groups are the first.
But we also have a strategy that if the cases of infection are many somewhere, we vaccinate a little beyond the risk groups, including more health personnel if there is pressure.
You must have plans in the municipalities
The municipalities are in charge of carrying out the vaccinations. Everyone must present a plan by Dec. 18 to county governors on how they want to do it.
Solberg notes that FHI has informed municipalities that they need to know who to vaccinate first and have an overview of vulnerable groups beyond those living in nursing homes.
– They should have the plans ready by December 18, then FHI will follow closely through the county governors.
– Plans should be ready in December. Should all municipalities also be prepared to start in January?
– The plans should be the plan of how they start. If you’ve planned it well enough, you’ll get it too.
Check where you are in the vaccine queue by taking the test below:
