While the number of Norwegian-born hospitalized with corona fell last week, the total number of hospitalized increased. The reason is strong growth in patients born abroad.
The trend in new patients who have been admitted to hospital with corona infection among people born in Norway is now declining, the National Institute of Public Health (NIPH) states in its recent weekly report. Last week, 114 Norwegian-born were hospitalized with corona infection, compared with 134 the week before.
CLEAR CHANGE: This graph shows how the number of newborns born in Norway has fallen, while the number of inpatients born abroad is increasing sharply. (Source: FHI)
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At the same time, the total number of new inpatients in Norway is increasing. People born abroad are responsible for the entire growth. 79 people born outside Norway were admitted with covid-19 last week, up from 55 the week before. This is an increase of as much as 44 percent.
As many as 41 percent of those admitted with covid-19 last week were born abroad, according to FHI.
Norway is now on the worst list
– Unfortunate
Chief physician Preben Aavitsland at the National Institute of Public Health says the figures paint a familiar picture, but that the development is worrying.
– We have seen most of the epidemic that immigrants are overrepresented among hospitalized people, partly because vaccination coverage is lower in some groups of the immigrant population. The development is unfortunate, and we strongly encourage unvaccinated people to take the first dose as soon as possible.
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Among those born abroad in hospitals, countries in Eastern Europe dominate. 16 of the new inmates are from Poland, while five are from Lithuania. In addition, six are from Eritrea and five from Syria. For the other countries of birth, there were fewer than five inpatients, and FHI has therefore not stated the background.
The figures from foreign-born in hospitals can be found in the statistics for vaccinated people. While as many as 92 per cent of adults born in Norway are fully vaccinated, the figures are far lower for many other nations.
Among those born in Poland, only four out of ten are fully vaccinated, and among those born in Lithuania, 43 percent have received two vaccine doses.
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Lower confidence
Countries in eastern Europe stand out clearly with a low vaccination rate, but also people born in Somalia and Eritrea, the vaccination rate is considerably lower than for those born in Norway.
The link between vaccine and serious illness is clear. Figures from NIPH show that more than half of those admitted to hospital are unvaccinated.
Assistant Director of Health Espen Rostrup Nakstad confirms that a lower vaccination rate is probably the reason why foreign-born people are overrepresented among the inpatients.
– It is well known that vaccine coverage in Eastern Europe, among other places, is lower than in Norway, and therefore it is not surprising that many with a foreign background who live or stay in Norway have low vaccine coverage. We see this in the high proportion of unvaccinated people who are hospitalized.
Assistant director Geir Bukholm in FHI believes that lower confidence in the authorities may explain why fewer people from Eastern Europe have been vaccinated.
– In some of these countries, the vaccination coverage is low in the countries themselves and it certainly has to do with what confidence you have in the authorities and so on there. Then we in Norway try when we get people here with a country background from these countries to motivate them to get vaccinated, Bukholm tells Dagbladet.
– It is probably quite a complex picture in relation to the explanation for why vaccination coverage is so low in these countries in the first place, Bukholm elaborates.
Unvaccinated in the majority in hospitals
Inserts measures
Nakstad believes there are several reasons, but supports the theory that it is related to declining confidence in the government.
– There are probably many reasons for this, including the trust that exists between the authorities and the population in different countries.
Nakstad says that the health authorities have implemented several measures to get more foreign-born people to be vaccinated.
