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The United Kingdom and the United States have come a long way with vaccines
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Sweden lags behind other countries with vaccines and won’t achieve herd immunity until September.
It shows an analysis that Svenska Dagbladet has read.
– I am convinced that all Swedes have been offered a vaccine before the summer, says Swedish vaccine coordinator Richard Bergström.
Vaccines against covid-19 have been started around the world. To date, up to three million Americans, more than 900,000 Britons, and around 800 Israelis have had a COVID-19 chance. But in the EU, vaccination campaigns have been slower.
According to data from the analytics firm Airfinity, which Svd has read, the EU – and Sweden – are several months behind. While the United States may have vaccinated enough people to achieve herd immunity as early as this summer, EU countries are not expected to do so until September.
– It’s about what vaccines were purchased, where they are produced, and how quickly different countries can obtain them. The United States has two-thirds of the production of Pfizer and Moderna and has bought significantly more doses per capita than the EU receives. The EU has bought very few doses of the vaccines that are being launched now, Rasmus Bech Hansen, CEO and founder of Airfinity, tells Svd.
Photo: Fredrik Sandberg / TT / TT NEWS AGENCY
Richard Bergström is skeptical of the analysis.
Think that Sweden has been passive
According to Bech Hansen, the EU has negotiated vaccine dose prices well, but many countries, including Sweden, have been too passive and have waited for the EU deal rather than negotiating deals themselves.
– Germany and Hungary have already signed their own agreements with vaccine companies. It is strange that the governments of Sweden and Denmark, both strong life sciencesindustries, did not promote and support the development and manufacture of vaccines of their own, Rasmus Bech Hansen tells Svd.
Richard Bergström, Sweden’s vaccine coordinator, disagrees at all. According to him, the calculations are at the end.
“The EU has been more reluctant than others to report what volumes we have and when they are delivered, while other countries have chosen to be optimistic, thus lacking information leading to the wrong conclusions,” he told Aftonbladet.
Delayed approval
EU countries started getting vaccinated a few weeks after the US and UK, as it took longer to approve Pfizer’s vaccine.
– Yes, because we did not want to resort to an emergency approval. There must be trust in the process, because there is no point in having a vaccine if no one wants to be vaccinated, says Richard Bergström.
Photo: PONTUS ORRE
So far 98,000 doses of Pfizer / Biontech vaccine have been received in Sweden.
Sweden currently has agreements on vaccines from five different manufacturers, all in the EU. Bergström believes that it would have been difficult to negotiate own agreements with the manufacturers. He also notes that vaccine production has been accelerated in the EU by investing money in Pfizer’s new vaccine factory in Germany.
– The industry has also asked Member States to join forces and negotiate with manufacturers. For the small EU countries, it would have been incredibly difficult to reach agreements.
A new vaccine can be approved on Monday
He does not know how many have been vaccinated so far in Sweden. But we have received 98,000 doses from Pfizer / Biontech and we will receive between 80,000 and 90,000 doses per week for the first two months of the year and then we will go up to 200,000 doses per week in March.
Moderna’s vaccine is expected to be approved on Monday, further increasing the rate of vaccination. At the end of January, the Astra Zeneca vaccine is expected to be approved and two more will be available in April: Johnson and Johnson and Curevac.
– I can’t say that when we achieve herd immunity, you can ask epidemiologists about that. But I am convinced that the entire population of Sweden will have been offered a vaccine before the summer, says Richard Bergström.
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