Vaccination, Covid | Sweden and Denmark are well underway with a third dose. What is Norway procrastinating with?
It is only more vaccination that will enable us to avoid what we now see in another European country, with more deaths, more serious illnesses and a health care system on its knees, writes Skjalg Fjellheim.
The comments expresses the opinions of the writer.
No, it is not bandages, the one-meter rule or hand washing that will get us through the pandemic. There are vaccines. Or rather: That more people take it. A first time, a second time and not least a third time. No matter how many go covid-19, there is little to suggest that it results in immunity at the societal level.
Before winter in earnest insert in Norway it is about that things: 1) measures that can motivate unvaccinated to dose one and two, here vaccine certificate can be an effective tool. And 2) logistics that roll out dose three as quickly as possible, to everyone over the age of 18, first to the risk groups and those with weakened immune systems. It is likely to save lives and it is necessary to use decommissioning.
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The development is not good for Norway now. We have the highest infection rates since the start of the pandemic. There is also increased spread of covid-19 in the vaccinated group. If the trend continues, it will be a matter of weeks with new interventions, which will be justified with regard to the health service’s resilience.
FHI has in one letter warned the municipalities that the hospital capacity will be exceeded within a few weeks. Unfortunately, this is not a surprise. Healthcare will naturally be overloaded when the vaccine’s efficacy and ability to protect against the virus diminish, without replenishment of new antibodies.
This is happening in Norway, as in all other countries. A Swedish study shows the following: Seven months after receiving other doses of the corona vaccine for Pfizer, only 15 percent of antibodies remained. The effectiveness of the vaccine does not depend on the amount of the antibody in our body alone. It depends on whether the immune system remembers antibodies. And it does to a large extent – but filling boosters must still be something we must prepare for with, among other things, new mutations.
NIPH now asks the municipalities prepared local regulations with targeted measures. For the municipality, it will involve choices that have major consequences for individuals and businesses. In Tromsø, we already see empty cafes and restaurants on their way into what should be the busiest month of the year. People in the city are going to lose their jobs and farms are going to go over.
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Municipal superiority message about whether the measures may last a long time is a slap in the face to nourishment that had just begun to see hope again.
Most people understand that targeted measures are an important contribution. But it has a high price for individuals and society. And the most important and targeted measure is probably the FHI itself as a manager, namely to give the green light for a booster dose.
The supply of vaccines are good and experience from Israel shows that it works with such a refreshing dose. After three million inhabitants received a new dose in the harvest, the plague fell and posts like a stone in Israel.
One of the formulas for success in the first phase of the pandemic was the good balance between subjects and politics. As a result, the Solberg government chose to reconsider on some subject points, most often with hell, based on overall assessments.
Maybe that’s it Minister of Health Ingvild Kjerkol and Prime Minister Støre should move now. Therefore, it is uplifting, when we in VG we can read that Kjerkol has already given FHI notice to intensify the work with dose three to more. It is a good leadership, which indicates that the political situation understanding is present.
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But it should go faster, although sometimes you have to bite into the safe apple and maybe be important information on an information basis that could have been better.
Men we can in all fall learn from our neighboring countries Sweden and Denmark, which are rolling out vaccine dose number three.
With that picture we see in Norway well, does not seem to be any reason to needle. Maybe you can start in the most polluted cities, like Tromsø. It is only more vaccination that will enable us to avoid what we now see in another European country, with more deaths, more serious illnesses and a health care system on its knees.