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In Oslo’s Stovner district, they see a great need for more vaccines. The district has been under enormous infection pressure for a long time, and he believes it should be first in line if there is to be an uneven geographic distribution of vaccines.
Leader Rashid Nawaz in the Stovner district committee believes that FHI’s vaccination strategy has failed.
– It’s completely wrong. FHI should have thought differently and talked to us. Oslo is the most exposed pot. Here we have almost everything, and especially in the districts of Groruddal. We should prioritize over the others first, he tells Dagbladet.
HIT HARD: The Stovner district in Oslo has had a very high infection pressure in the pandemic. The district points to, among other things, housing conditions as the cause. Photo: Kristin Svorte
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– From top to bottom
Oslo city councilor Raymond Johansen and several eastern Norwegian mayors have recently shouted loudly about the need for vaccines in the eastern Norwegian area. FHI’s strategy, which is based on an equitable distribution to the country’s municipalities, must be changed, they believe. To date, the around 200,000 doses that have been established in Norway have been distributed among all municipalities in the country, regardless of infection pressure.
Last week, 65 municipalities in eastern Norway sent a letter to the Storting requesting help to ensure that they receive a higher proportion of the vaccine doses.
Nawaz from the Stovner district committee believes that FHI should have traveled to Stovner and seen firsthand the work being done to keep the infection under control.
– They don’t come where people live and ask how everyday life is lived for us. We are not asked, even if we know the situation. It communicates top to bottom, says Nawaz, adding:
– It should have been the opposite. The work should have started here and then went up.
MANY CHALLENGES: Rashid Nawaz, chair of the Stovner district committee (left), shows Rina Mariann Hansen, councilor for labor integration and social services, what has been done in Stovner during the pandemic. Here with coronaverts Imaan Nor Choudhary (left) and Kevin Michel Kahn outside of Stovner’s center. Photo: Hans Arne Vedlog / Dagbladet
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Reassessed
Chief Physician Are Stuwitz Berg of the National Institute of Public Health confirms to Dagbladet that they are now in the process of re-evaluating the strategy.
– We are reconsidering this again in light of the large differences over time, but also of changes at the national level and the danger of a spread of the most infectious variants. However, it has been important at the beginning of the vaccination to also protect the most vulnerable throughout the country, he says.
– The pandemic has shown us how unpredictable it is, and prioritizing some areas also means degrading others. We do not know where the next outbreak will be, and local outbreaks can cause many serious cases and deaths, although infection in this area has not been high over time.
EVALUATING THE STRATEGY: Chief Physician Are Stuwitz Berg of the National Institute of Public Health (NIPH) says the vaccine strategy will now be re-evaluated, in part because of the outbreak of mutations in the coronavirus. Photo: Torstein Bøe / NTB
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Vaccine bar
In an old pub in the center of Stovner, with curved leather sofas and dark lacquered wood, beer used to be served to ihuga football fans. Instead of football games, it is now vaccine information that appears on the screens.
– It is the most beautiful vaccination center in the city, says leader Christian Haaland at the Stovner vaccination center.
VACCINE BAR: Christian Haaland (left) runs the Stovner Vaccine Center, which houses a former football pub on Stovner Senter. Here with Rashid Nawaz, head of the Stovner municipal committee. Photo. Hans Arne Vedlog / Dagbladet
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Inside the bar room, three stalls have been installed, where the doses assigned to Stovner are set.
Along the tables in the rest of the room sit those who are waiting to be plugged in, or people who have already received their dose and are now sitting under observation.
– We now vaccinate about 110 people every day. Now I will not get into the vaccine debate, but we will put everything we can distribute. We have three rows, three stalls, which could have been filled to the max if we had had enough vaccinations, Haaland says.
THREE LINES: In the old football pub in Stovner Senter, the shots are placed in three stalls. In total, District 11 has so-called lines, which can be implemented if necessary. Photo: Hans Arne Vedlog / Dagbladet
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High capacity
At the Stovner center, another vaccine room that has not been used so far is also available, in case access to vaccines improves.
– In fact, we have 11 lines, so it is possible to extend it. Right now this solution is more than sufficient, but we are ready to increase staff quickly.
– According to the city council, we should be able to give 4,200 vaccinations a day, and we should be able to do it, if we vaccinate from Monday to Sunday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. It obviously requires flow and for people to come when they should, and there is also some logistics associated with vaccination, he says.
– Is the job complicated?
– There is some logistics. And we know how valuable these drops are, so here it needs to be shaken properly, lifted properly, and the pull-up needs to be checked exactly as it should be, says Haaland.
According to Councilor Raymond Johansen, Oslo’s vaccine centers have the capacity to vaccinate 110,000 people a week, if the municipality has enough vaccines.
– Aims to reduce death
FHI has long said that evaluations of vaccine strategy are done on an ongoing basis.
– The infection situation is changing, we are obtaining virus variants that may have a greater ability to spread in society, we have a better overview of which vaccines we reach Norway, when they arrive here and in what quantities. And we gain better knowledge about the effects of vaccines, says Are Stuwitz Berg at FHI.
– At the same time, it is important to emphasize that the goal of the strategy is to protect against severe covid-19 disease and reduce the risk of death. Given that more people at increased risk of severe disease have been vaccinated, there will be reason to consider the most effective strategy for further implementation of the vaccination program.
