Sweden says it will not reach the vaccine target due to delays in deliveries: SVT
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden’s vaccine coordinator said on Sunday that repeated delays in covid-19 vaccine deliveries meant that Sweden would not be able to reach the goal of having all adults vaccinated by 30 June.
Sweden, which has rejected lockdowns throughout the pandemic, is in a hurry to get its population vaccinated in the middle of a third wave of the pandemic. It registered its highest number of new cases since the end of last year on Thursday, although deaths are still at a relatively low level. [L8N2LN5H4]
– It will take a little longer before everyone is fully vaccinated, but maybe five million people will be fully vaccinated at the end of the first half of the year, June 30, says vaccine coordinator Richard Bergström to Swedish Television.
“It will take maybe a couple of weeks into July before everyone gets two shots,” he said.
Bergström did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sweden, with a total population of 10 million, has so far vaccinated over one million people with one dose and 450,000 people with two doses.
The country has more than 13,000 deaths as a result of covid-19. Sweden’s per capita mortality is many times higher than for its Nordic neighbors, but lower than in several European countries that have chosen shutdowns.
A compilation of European mortality data on Wednesday showed that Sweden had a lower increase in deaths than most European countries by 2020.
Reporting by Johan Ahlander; Editing Emelia Sithole-Matarise