What would the health authorities themselves have said to a non-vaccinated person, if they had the opportunity to talk to them face to face?
– You’re in a Christmas party, next to a person who does not want to be vaccinated against covid-19. What do you want to say to that person?
– I am a doctor myself, then you feel obliged to get vaccinated extra strongly for two reasons: To protect yourself and to protect others, says Steinar Madsen, who is the medical director of the Norwegian Medicines Agency.
Health care: 32,000 not fully vaccinated
– You never know if a person sitting next to you has an underlying disease. I think it is a big responsibility to expose other people to infection, he says.
In Norway, we have reached a vaccine coverage of 92 percent that has taken at least one dose. But according to recent figures from the National Institute of Public Health (NIPH), there are still 339,000 Norwegians who have not taken a single dose of vaccine.
– Some are scared
The authorities have encouraged those who have not taken the vaccine to take it. There is no separate register of those who choose not to be vaccinated, or what reasons they have for this.
HEALTH TOP: These five health tops have answered Dagbladet’s question about what they would say to an unvaccinated person, if they suddenly came face to face. Photo: Nina Hansen, Lars Eivind Bones, NTB
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FHI chief physician Preben Aavitsland believes there may be various reasons why people choose not to take the vaccine.
– Some people are afraid of side effects. Some are just against vaccines. Some just linger. Some live abroad. A few, probably less than 10,000, have a disease that prevents them from being vaccinated. Some have undergone covid-19 and feel they are well enough protected, he explains.
– Natural to fear
Assistant health director Espen Rostrup Nakstad would have said that he understands the concern that many have for side effects.
– It is completely natural to fear it when a new vaccine arrives. At the same time, we must rely on the testing that was done before the vaccines were approved, and the careful mapping of side effects that has been done after around eight billion vaccine doses have been given in the last year, he writes in an e-mail to Dagbladet.
NIPH’s department director for infection control and emergency preparedness, Line Vold, says that there will probably be lower infection rates at Christmas.
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The survey shows that there is a much higher risk of becoming seriously ill without the vaccine, and most of the side effects of the vaccine are mild, he points out.
– Therefore, we recommend everyone to get vaccinated – first and foremost for their own health, but also to protect other people in society who have a weakened immune system or for some other reason are particularly vulnerable if they are infected, says Nakstad.
– You do not die from this
If FHI chief physician Preben Aavitsland had come face to face with someone who does not want to be vaccinated against covid-19, he would have said this:
– Vaccination protects against serious illness, that is the important thing, says Aavitsland.
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He would also point out that vaccination also protects against becoming infected and also from continuing to infect, but not to the same extent.
– That protection decreases over time, but protection against serious illness seems to be preserved, he says.
He also points out that the vaccines we use in Norway have been given to hundreds of millions of people.
– The experiences are very good. These are some of the most widely used drugs in history. You can get a sore arm and feel unwell for a day. You do not die of this, but you can die of corona disease, he says.
– Risks hospitalization
According to Aavitsland, the greatest significance of a vaccine is for yourself. He points out that the unvaccinated adults risk becoming so ill that they have to go to hospital when they become infected.
Urgent Christmas prayer: – Cancel the plans
Roughly speaking, the risk of hospitalization is two percent for an infected fifty-year-old and ten percent for an infected seventy-year-old. For society, the importance is that the hospitals get a greater burden, he says.
NIPH director Camilla Stoltenberg emphasizes the same.
– As soon as you become positive
– The vaccines’ main task is to protect the individual against disease, she writes in an e-mail to Dagbladet.
She thinks there is a lot of doubt and uncertainty among those who have still not taken the coronary vaccine.
– We believe that there are more unvaccinated people who have questions, are in doubt and unsure, than direct vaccine opponents. It is important to reassure everyone that the information available about the vaccines, and about the side effects, comes out openly, she says, and emphasizes:
– I hope our reactions to side effect reports about some of the vaccines have contributed to those who have doubts also trusting the advice we give.
Was taken out of the program
For example, the AstraZeneca vaccine (Vaxzevria) was paused in Norway of FHI March 11, following reports of serious side effects including unusual blood clots, low platelet counts and bleeding.
The vaccine was later removed from the Norwegian vaccination program.
Many become critically ill
After a higher incidence of serious side effects was registered with the AstraZeneca vaccine, FHI decided that the similar Janssen vaccine should not be used in the Norwegian vaccination program.
People who want it can be assessed by a doctor to see if they can get the Janssen vaccine. But for most people, the risk of serious side effects from the Janssen vaccine will outweigh the benefits, according to The Norwegian Directorate of Health.
Assistant health director Espen Rostrup Nakstad explains what many people do wrong when they use self-tests. Video: Dagbladet TV
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New vaccine approved
The vaccines that are currently part of the vaccination program in Norway are BioNTech and Pfizer-developed Comirnaty and Modernas Spikevax.
Both vaccines are so-called mRNA vaccines. They contain mRNA, which contains the recipe for the spike protein on the covid-19 virus.
This week has too The Novavax vaccine has been given the green light of the European Medicines Agency, and Norway has ordered more than 500,000 doses.
FHI has not yet considered whether Novavax should be included in the Norwegian vaccination program.
Two good news
Novavax does not use mRNA technology, but instead uses a traditional subunit technology.
Subunit vaccines do not contain whole viruses, only small pieces of it. The bites cannot in themselves cause disease, but stimulate the immune system to make antibodies against the virus.
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– Do the most important job
According to Stoltenberg, it can be seen that the vaccines that are in use in Norway today also protect against infection to some extent, but not one hundred percent. This means that the virus, regardless of variant, can also infect those who have been vaccinated.
– But the vast majority do not get so sick from the infection that they have to go to hospital, so the vaccines still do the most important job, namely to protect against serious illness.
Minister of Health Ingvild Kjerkol (Labor Party) encourages everyone to accept the vaccine they are offered.
– Fewer left to kill
– Then we increase the protection for the individual and for society faster. If we manage to vaccinate quickly now, it will reduce the need for more intrusive measures. Both FHI and the municipal health service can answer questions about the vaccine if you have any questions, she writes in an e-mail to Dagbladet.
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