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The first doses of vaccine are expected in January and, if all goes well, a large part of Sweden’s population may have been vaccinated in late summer.
During a press conference last week, the head of the Swedish Public Health Agency, Johan Carlson, said who gets the vaccine first:
– There are people in three groups: people in special housing for the elderly, care personnel for the elderly who work with particularly vulnerable people, and then people who have home care and those who live with someone who has home care.
Subsequently, the rest of the health personnel will receive the vaccine, then the elderly and the rest of the risk group.
“Socially important group”
But there is still no order of priority within the healthy public.
Now Tobias Baudin, president of the Kommunal union, is fighting for priority to be given to some of its members. He believes that senior care janitors and bus drivers should also take the lead.
“It should be based on the needs and risks of being exposed to an infection that distribution should take place,” Tobias Baudin told TT.
Who gets the vaccine first?
The government and the Swedish Public Health Agency presented a list of who will get the vaccine first and in what order.
The vaccine will be free for all, that is, subsidized with taxes.
People in nursing homes / home care: 232,000
Elderly care staff: 220,000
People who live with people who have home care services: 120,000 (estimated)
Other health and medical personnel: 400,000
Other people aged 70 and over: 1.5 million
Other people in risk group: 200,000
The rest of the population aged 19 to 69: 6 million
Baudin continues:
– Bus drivers are a socially important group. They are a group that is exposed to infections and they have a job that makes all of Sweden work. They make sure people can get to their jobs in the nursing home, hospital and school, he says.
“Protecting the teachers”
Another group that wants to finish first in the vaccine queue are teachers. Åsa Fahlén, president of the National Union of Teachers, believes that priority should be given to teachers, as there is widespread concern among teachers that it is difficult to protect themselves from infections at work.
– In a classroom, it can often be difficult, especially when student groups are large and students have special needs, he tells TT.
– Sweden has chosen to keep the primary school open as usual during the pandemic, so I think it is important to see how to protect teachers, Åsa Fahlén continues.
She thinks it’s important to have a discussion about priorities now that a vaccine is coming up.
– Countries like Belgium, Germany and Russia have already put forward proposals to give priority to teachers, he says.
