On Wednesday, the Danish Ministry of Health announced that everyone in Denmark can buy a booster dose of the corona vaccine. The vaccine can be bought from doctors, pharmacies and other operators from 15 November. The arrangement takes place so that private actors buy vaccine doses from the Danish state at a reduced price. The price of the vaccines that are then sold is determined by the individual players, as is the practice with other vaccines. – The overall price for a vaccination can therefore vary, writes the Ministry of Health. Norway: – Not put up for sale In order to ensure vaccination of risk groups, in addition to reservations about unforeseen events and new covid-19 variants beyond the winter, the Danish government has set a cap on how many vaccines will be released for sale in the private sector the market. When asked whether Norway intends to do the same as the Danes, the Ministry of Health replies that they have not planned to sell vaccine doses in pharmacies. “We follow FHI’s recommendations on which groups should be offered vaccine and booster doses. FHI continuously assesses whether we should also offer offers to people outside the risk groups for which the refresher dose is currently recommended.” That’s what Ole Henrik Krat Bjørkholt in the Ministry of Health and Care writes in an email to news. State Secretary Ole Henrik Krat Bjørkholt says the government has no plans to make arrangements for private actors to sell corona vaccines. Photo: Esten Borgos / Borgos Foto AS – Many challenges Director of infection control and vaccination at the Institute of Public Health (FHI), Are Stuwitz Berg, says this is not entirely different from the scheme Norway has for the flu vaccine today. But he believes there are too many challenges in introducing the same scheme for the corona vaccine at the present time. – The doses are in multi-dose jars and require a freezer chain to arrive completely. So it is not like the flu vaccine which is packaged in its own syringes and easier to distribute and sell like a regular vaccine. Furthermore, it is difficult to distinguish between those who will have the vaccines, i.e. risk groups, and those who will not get them for free, he tells news. Are Stuwitz Berg and FHI believe it is too early to self-pay for corona vaccines in Norway. Photo: Torstein Bøe / NTB – A little too early The government has decided that the municipalities can now give refresher doses against covid-19 to risk groups between the ages of 18 and 64. The offer also applies to people in the 12-17 age group with a serious underlying illness. FHI has previously recommended that everyone over the age of 65 also take a refresher dose against covid-19 this autumn. Berg reminds us that we are still in a pandemic, and that the situation around who is recommended to get a new dose can change. – Exactly which groups we recommend a vaccine for may change over time if we see that the situation is developing for the worse. Our recommendation is therefore that a solution with self-payment is a little too early, he says.
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