Norwegian politics, Korona | Requires corona passport in Norway:
The event top believes it is urgent to introduce corona passports in Norway. But the professor is skeptical.
Watch a video interview with Knut Meiner in the event company Komon-Stageway, who wants a corona pass in place:
ULLEVÅL STADIUM (Nettavisen): Several industries are down with a broken back, after Norway closed down again before Christmas and especially the culture and catering industry was hit hard.
Knut Meiner, who has run the event company Komon-Stageway for 25 years, now believes that a step is needed to save the industries from mass redundancies and bankruptcy.
– Vaccine passes must arrive as soon as possible. I think it should be made as difficult as possible for those who do not want to be vaccinated, says Meiner.
The online newspaper meets him at Egon restaurant at Ullevål stadium in Oslo, where it is still open, but a full stop.
– Too many people pay the price for a few egotists, thunders the top of the event.
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– Only for vaccinated
Meiner believes it is urgent to put in place a corona passport in Norway.
– There is a divided opinion about how much it has to say for the spread of infection, but as I understand it, it has a fairly positive effect on increasing the rate of vaccination, he says.
How corona pass works in the countries where it has been used, those who have been vaccinated or have taken a recent corona test, enter cultural events and restaurants.
– I think it has the greatest effect on getting more people to get vaccinated. That’s what can help me. But corona passports should only be for those who are fully vaccinated, so that vaccine opponents can not test themselves, says Meiner, who in addition to being chairman of the company, has been elected to the city committee for Nordre Aker Høyre.
On Wednesday, it was also announced that the EU is introducing changes that are valid in corona certificates, in that fully vaccinated people now have to take a refresher dose for the passport to be valid.
– In France, President Emmanuel Macron has stated that he will continue to harass the unvaccinated until the very end. Do you agree with that?
– I am not a supporter of harassing people, but I am a strong supporter of talking reason to people. It may be perceived as a nuisance, he says.
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– Extremely hard hit
– How hard hit is your industry?
– It is extremely hard hit. In January, we have a 90 percent loss of income. When we come to March, I guess we have lost 250 million kroner in turnover during the pandemic, Meiner says.
His company, which makes small and large events – for anywhere from a hundred to a thousand people – usually has a turnover of about 130 million kroner a year.
– Our industry looked absolutely fantastic for the first quarter of 2022, but now everything has been moved after the new closure. We have not laid off people, but at times there has been very little to do, he says.
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Now he fears major consequences, if the situation does not soon return to normal.
– There will definitely be bankruptcies. Many had a good 2019 and had a buffer to eat, but that buffer is starting to run out, says Meiner.
He has very little left over for the liquor ban, which he believes politicians should abolish immediately.
– I think it is very strange that people should not be allowed to have a glass of wine with their food. As far as I know, Norway is the only country in Europe that has such strict rules. It must be possible to regulate it in a more sensible way, he says.
– Your damned duty
I mean people are now waking up, and believe that there is an increased degree of vaccination that can save cultural life, the catering industry, hotels and his own industry.
– It will probably be more or less shut down until this pandemic is over, until so many have been vaccinated that we can open all the way up again. So take the syringe now, it’s your damned duty, his advice is to the country’s about 300,000 unvaccinated.
He believes the vaccination is also going too slowly.
– 700,000 doses were to be set at Christmas, but 300,000 were set. It’s going too slowly, and it’s not the authorities’ fault. There are people who do not show up, Meiner claims.
– But not everyone can be vaccinated for health reasons?
– An arrangement must be made where they are tested, so that those who are so unlucky that they can not be vaccinated, can live a normal life like the rest of us, he says.
A survey conducted by Nettavisen before Christmas showed that 67 per cent of Norwegians have a positive attitude towards corona certificates, while only 18 per cent are negative.
Professor: – Follows a cost
Professor of Philosophy Espen Gamlund at the University of Bergen (UiB), however, questions how effective a corona pass will be.
– Treating vaccinated and unvaccinated people differently can be defended ethically if there are good enough reasons for it. We are now looking for measures to get us out of the pandemic. The central question is how much the unvaccinated burden the health care system. There is the battle, says Gamlund to Nettavisen, and adds questioningly:
– But if you refuse the unvaccinated to go to the cinema and concerts, while they are free to take the bus – how effective will this be?
Gamlund also points out that a corona pass will lead to increased polarization in society.
– We are already seeing heated discussions in society and within families, an increased separation between “them and them”. So there is a cost involved in introducing such a passport, he emphasizes.
– That which is inflamed
– But the cost is today high for all vaccinated people who experience extra strict restrictions because the unvaccinated burden the health care system?
– Yes, and that’s what’s so inflamed. The unvaccinated become the “scapegoat”, while we should probably ask myself why the preparedness is not better, says Gamlund.
– Nyears the situation is as it is, the unvaccinated dominate the hospital places, is it not fair and reasonable to restrict their freedom?
– It can be defended ethically, but I doubt the effectiveness of this. It is about 7-8 percent, and we – at least I – know too little about how much such a powerful measure will work. That is why I am skeptical, he says.
I think box
As before Christmas, the Norwegian Directorate of Health turned around, which at first was in favor of corona passports. The National Institute of Public Health (NIPH) is on a line where they continuously evaluate the measure, after they also first went out and recommended it.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Labor Party) was also pressured on whether that burden will be used harder against those who can, but do not want to, be vaccinated during their press conference on 15 December.
Støre replied that it is possible to use a corona passport in Norway, in the same way as a number of other European countries have done. In that case, it will require a change in the law. In the meantime, he clearly requested that everyone should be vaccinated, and that the first, second and third doses are important.
– Uncertainty related to omikron
State Secretary Karl Kristian Bekeng in the Ministry of Health and Care Services, states that they are now considering whether a corona passport should be introduced.
– If it turns out that fully vaccinated people also infect to a lesser extent than unvaccinated people, there is a basis for using a corona certificate, for example to avoid event restrictions, bar stops and other infection control measures. The current infection control measures will be reconsidered on 14 January. We have asked the trade unions to consider differentiated infection control measures as part of the basis against these assessments, and are awaiting a response to this, Bekeng writes in an email to Nettavisen.
He also explains why they have so far said no to such a passport:
– Due to the uncertainty associated with the omicron variant, the Norwegian Directorate of Health and the National Institute of Public Health recommended before Christmas that the use of a corona certificate not be opened. The omicron variant constitutes an element of uncertainty both with regard to fully vaccinated to a lesser extent than unvaccinated function as carriers and how sick fully vaccinated become, he writes.