The first coronary vaccines can at best be approved before Christmas, says Prime Minister Erna Solberg. She hopes vaccination in Norway can start in the first half of 2021.
Several vaccine candidates are in the final phase of testing. We hope a vaccine can be approved around Christmas time. If everything goes as we hope, Norway will be allocated vaccine doses beyond the first half of 2021, says Erna Solberg at the government’s press conference.
– We work closely with the EU to secure vaccines to Norway. When a coronary vaccine is approved in Norway, it is approved both by the EU and by Norway.
Solberg emphasizes that vaccination will be voluntary and free of charge.
The health authorities hope that as many people as possible who are recommended for the vaccine will take it.
– We do not yet know who is recommended to take the vaccine first. FHI is working on that. What we do know is that risk increases with age and underlying diseases, says Solberg.
No vaccination of children
Both Solberg and Director of Public Health Camilla Stoltenberg emphasize that it will probably not be relevant to offer coronary vaccine to children under 16 in the first instance.
The candidates have not been tested on children under 16 years. It is unlikely that children will be recommended vaccination in the first place. Later, it may be relevant to test the vaccines on children as well, and then it may be relevant to consider whether the vaccine should also be recommended for children. We reckon this is a long way ahead, says Stoltenberg.
The National Institute of Public Health is now working on making advice for prioritizing who should be offered the vaccine first.
– We work with which groups we should recommend vaccines to, and due to limited access to vaccines in the first instance, it will be necessary to prioritize, says Stoltenberg.
Source: nrk.no
