Sweden is reducing the recommended gap between the second and third covid spreads
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STOCKHOLM, January 12 (Reuters) – Sweden will reduce the recommended time interval between the second and third COVID vaccine to five months from six, the health authority said on Wednesday.
The decision will affect people between the ages of 18 and 64. People over the age of 65 were already eligible to have their booster injected five months after the other. Children between the ages of 12 and 17 still have to wait six months.
A number of other countries, including the United Kingdom, Denmark and France, have already reduced the interval between the second and third vaccines for at least some sections of their population, sometimes to as little as three months. Read more
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“The purpose of the shorter time interval is for more people to be able to be vaccinated earlier. The regions should not have to be unemployed with unused capacity,” says the health authority’s epidemiologist Anders Tegnell in a statement.
Sweden has vaccinated 86% of the population from 12 years and up with a syringe and 82% with two syringes or more.
Sweden stood out early in the pandemic by opting out of shutdowns, instead focusing on a mostly voluntary strategy based on social distancing and good hygiene.
Sweden has more than 15,000 dead in the pandemic, several times higher per capita than its Nordic neighbors but lower than most other European countries.
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Reporting by Johan Ahlander Editing by Gareth Jones
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