Then sent as Tuesday afternoon, it became known that there is a major outbreak of infection at Brevik nursing home in Porsgrunn. One of the infected is an unvaccinated nurse, most of whom are residents.

At the same time, the infection is now increasing in Norway.

– We are talking here about people at risk and the elderly, where we are talking about life and death. And then to have unvaccinated health care to care for these. I think that is simply an old man with their lives, said senior ombudsman Bente Lund Jacobsen in the Debate on NRK on Tuesday night.

Health director Bjørn Guldvåg was also concerned.

– It is deeply problematic for the health service that many health workers do not take this vaccine. We are in the middle of a pandemic, it is very demanding. We are there now that we have a powerful increase in infection, he said

Vaccine skepticism

Last week, NRK reported that 422 employees at nursing homes in Oslo are unvaccinated. It amounts to about 5 percent.

At the end of August, 92 per cent of health workers had at least one dose of coronary vaccine, the corresponding figure for the rest of the adult population was 88.6 per cent, shows FHI.

There is a lower vaccination rate among nurses than doctors and lower among nurses with a foreign background are among those with a Norwegian background, FHI’s overview shows.

Specialist nurse Dina Benedicte Bøckmann is among those who have chosen not to be vaccinated against coronary heart disease.

– I was skeptical of the RMNA vaccines, she says.

She emphasizes that she is not against vaccines in general, but this type of vaccine.

RMNA is a new technology used in the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. Bøckmann believes that one does not know enough about how this technology affects the body.

– Why do you not trust the health authorities?

– I think in the end, it’s my body and my responsibility. A lot is said well about the vaccines and then I make my own assessments in relation to it.

– If you had worked in a hospital or a nursing home, do you think that you could have gone to work as unvaccinated?

– I mean it. It is about protecting oneself and protecting the patient, one is drilled in preventive measures as a nurse, says Bøckmann.

She mentions face masks, gloves and coats as regular protection.

Health director Bjørn Guldvog is not reassured.

– We know from the flu season that health workers infect many patients. It is deeply problematic. In this situation we are in now, it is even more critical, he says.

Want vaccine requirements

In several other countries, requirements have been introduced for employees in the health service to be vaccinated. In the UK, the Minister of Health said on Tuesday that health personnel who have not been fully vaccinated by 1 April will lose their jobs. There is no legal basis for this in Norway. You should do something about that, says senior ombudsman Bente Lund Jacobsen.

– There are definitely some who do not want to get vaccinated, but then I think I should relocate them to other tasks than asking the most vulnerable.

The parliamentary representative for the Labor Party, Cecilie Myrseth, largely agrees.

– When you have not been vaccinated and are a healthcare professional, you should not have close contact with vulnerable patients at all. It is a responsibility you have, but it is also a management responsibility, she says.

Although it is not allowed for the management to ask the employees if they have been vaccinated, Myrseth believes that they can relocate those who do not inform themselves that they have been vaccinated.

Bård Hoksrud from Frp is even clearer.

– If you want to work with vulnerable patients, you have to be vaccinated.

Also infection among vaccinated

There is now a sharp increase in infection in Norway. The infection leads to problems in a number of Norwegian hospitals and in cities such as Trondheim and Tromsø.

Many vaccinated people have also been infected in recent times. This is especially true for the elderly, who were fully vaccinated in the new year. But other vaccinated people have also become ill and infected others.

Specialist nurse Dina Benedicte Bøckmann thinks it is unreasonable that there is so much focus on unvaccinated health workers.

– It is important to have the same preventive measures for all health personnel, when we know that it is also contagious we fully vaccinated, she says

The director of health believes that one must be aware of infection from all health workers.

– But first and foremost from the unvaccinated, he says.

– I would add that vaccination is voluntary and a private matter. And I think it has been a bit on the edge handled socially during the pandemic, says Bøckmann.