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The world is hungry for a coronavirus vaccine. But even when that is in place, it is not certain that Sweden has access to it. The first reason is negotiations with the WHO and the EU to ensure that Sweden is not disappointed for the last time in sex, says social minister Lena Hallengren (S).
About 70 different studies are being done to develop a coronavirus vaccine. Some of them have gone so far that they have started testing volunteers.
Still, most people expect a vaccine to be on the market as soon as possible in a year. And then the demand will be great. The question is how well prepared is Sweden to access the available vaccines and bring them to those who need them most.
Allocation plan
A total of SEK 100 million has been allocated by the government for covid-19 research, and in addition, SEK 100 million between 2020 and 2024 will go towards vaccine research. Precisely the research to increase the chances of receiving a vaccine, as well as the negotiations with the EU and the WHO to prevent countries from trying to “steal”, which is key on the issue of the vaccine, according to social minister Lena Hallengren ( S).
– It is very important for us to be at the EU level now when we are going to secure the allocation, for example. All countries are equally eager to receive the vaccine and it is very important that we have a plan for what the allocation should be like and that we get our share, ”she says.
Hallengren also points out the importance of mapping production capacity for vaccine production in the EU so that it is known which factories can produce the vaccines on the market.
– The European Commission prioritizes this problem and it is very good that they cooperate and not fight each other, but rather help each other.
The worried moderates
However, moderates’ social policy spokeswoman Camilla Waltersson Grönvall believes the government should act more proactively. Both within and outside the EU and at national level to design missions for the responsible authorities to be in place when the vaccine arrives. She takes, for example, tests for the coronavirus in Sweden and it has not started as the government wanted in the regions.
– I am concerned, because vaccination will have similar concerns if you are not very clear about all parts of this through a national vaccination strategy, and it should be implemented very soon, says Waltersson Grönvall.
Not worried
However, according to Hallengren, there will be time to implement such a strategy. When you learn more about what type of vaccine may be relevant, the Public Health Agency will also be assigned a more specific task to deal with the vaccine problem.
– Now it is about global research and distribution mechanisms and not how we should distribute a possible vaccine at home in Sweden. We shouldn’t make that difficult or expand, she says.
– I am not worried or worried that we will not be able to handle an access situation in Sweden when that day comes.
Facts: different types of vaccine
Vaccination is simplified to teach the body’s immune system to recognize the dangerous infectious agent. This is done by injecting a harmless version of the infectious agent, or part of the infectious agent, so that the immune system can train to detect it safely.
The vaccines that are developed against covid-19 are practically all genetic vaccines. This means that the body’s own machinery is used to produce the protein that the immune system must learn to detect, injecting a small amount of genetic material into the body. When it comes to covid-19 vaccines, the genetic code encodes the little bumps, the spike protein, that the virus has on its surface to enter our cells.
The advantage of genetic vaccines is that they are faster to manufacture than other types of vaccines. The downside is, among other things, that it can be more difficult to obtain the genetic material in the right place in the body and that a human-approved genetic vaccine has not yet been developed.
Source: Matti Sällberg, professor and researcher of vaccines of the Department of Laboratory Medicine of the Karolinska Institute.
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