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Finland stands out among the Nordic countries in terms of the strategy to vaccinate the population against COVID-19. Rather than prioritizing the oldest and most fragile, it is the VAT staff first in line.
“Our strategic program has several objectives. One is to avoid death and serious illness. But it’s also about ensuring health capacity, ”says Hanna Nohynek, chief physician at the Institute for Health and Welfare, the Finnish equivalent of the Swedish Public Health Agency.
That is why we now mainly vaccinate personnel in intensive care units, emergency rooms and those who care for patients with covid. They are very difficult to replace. If they did have covid-19, it would have catastrophic consequences for care, with many deaths as a result, “he adds.
Only then will vaccinations be offered to the elderly residents of Finland, over the age of 80. According to Hanna Nohynek, it will likely be relevant during the second half of January.
In the rest of the Nordic countries, the strategy is instead to vaccinate the oldest and most fragile people as soon as possible, as well as those who care for them in nursing homes and in the home care service.
“Iva’s staff will come later. We still do not have decisions, but in the first place there will be health professionals who treat patients with covid, “says Swedish state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell.
TT: Is there no reason to prioritize the IVA staff, who also have close contact with covid patients?
“We have some outbreaks there. But we consider the risk of getting infected in actual contact with care to be quite small. When you’ve studied this properly, it appears to be primarily that staff infect each other in staff rooms and cafeterias. It would be quite strange if the patients infected you, because in VAT you have a good protective equipment, ”says Anders Tegnell.
Hanna Nohynek shares the view that she is not in contact with patients that IVA staff are primarily at risk of infection. But according to their assessment, it is not decisive where the risk of infection is greatest.
“It just came to our knowledge then work environment problem, they must have the best protection that can be obtained in order to perform their important work. It doesn’t matter if they catch it in the dining room or in their free time. These are people who are very difficult to replace and it would be catastrophic if they got sick, ”says Hanna Nohynek.
Both Anders Tegnell and Hanna Nohynek point out that the different strategies should be designed based on the infection situation in the country and in nursing homes. In Finland, there has been no widespread spread of infection in nursing homes, and the spread of infection in the country is currently lower in the Nordic countries, with 100 cases per day per 100,000 inhabitants in the last two weeks. , compared to 755 in Denmark and almost 880 in Sweden.
