Just over three months after FHI opened a fourth dose of corona vaccine to those aged between 18 and 64 outside risk groups, the figures are grim.
Not only have those outside the risk groups, who were only offered vaccine, absent from the vaccination centre. Also in the risk groups such as FHI recommended to take a fourth dose, the majority have not turned up at the vaccination centre.
This is shown by figures that Nettavisen has obtained access to.
- 98,515 people between the ages of 18 and 64 outside risk groups have taken the fourth dose. This corresponds to three percent of the group.
- 69,269 of those in risk groups between the ages of 18 and 64 have taken the fourth dose. This corresponds to 17 percent.
- 709,761 people in the age group 65 years and older have taken the fourth dose. This corresponds to 66 percent.
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Several million doses can end up in the trash
Nettavisen has previously revealed that Norway has destroyed 1,733,426 doses of corona vaccines from central storage. In addition to the 1.7 million doses, it has been thrown from the municipality’s vaccine stocks.
In total, well over two million doses have ended up in the bin, and there will be more.
Norway now has just over five million vaccine doses in stock. Most of these have expiry dates between the second half of 2023 and the beginning of 2024.
– If there is no new, serious virus variant, we will hardly be able to use more than half of these doses. The doses we do not get donated to other countries will be thrown away, estimates the FHI top.
Influenced by wording
Preben Aavitsland, senior physician at FHI believes there are several reasons for the low numbers among those under 64. He especially believes the importance of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health choosing to offer rather than recommend vaccination to those outside the risk group.
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– We expect that it has meant quite a lot. During the pandemic, people have come to expect us to recommend vaccination for those we believe can clearly benefit from it. When we do not recommend, many probably feel that they do not need to vaccinate, writes Aavitsland in an e-mail to Nettavisen.
At the same time, he clarifies that it has been good to offer the vaccine to this age group, and is clear that FHI has never said this group should take the vaccine, but that they could.
For the risk groups between the ages of 18 and 64, a fourth dose was recommended, yet the figures were no higher than 17 per cent in this group.
– We would have liked to see this number higher, writes the FHI chief physician.
He points to three things in particular as the reason for the decline:
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– More impressed than disappointed
Municipal chief physician and head of Oslo municipality’s TISK programme, Miert Skjoldborg Lindboe, has seen the same development as FHI.
– I am almost more impressed that so many people under the age of 65, outside the risk group, have taken the vaccine. I can’t think of many reasons for them to take the fourth dose, says the municipal superintendent.
The vaccine center for Oslo municipality at Nydalen is still in operation, but Lindboe is clear that there is far less activity at the center now than in the past.
– There has been a lot of focus on disease and vaccines. I think people are sick of the pandemic and I fully understand that, he adds.
