Advertisement

vaccine

First doses of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine arrive in Sweden

TT/The Local
TT/The Local - [email protected]
Published: 26 Dec, 2020 CET. Updated: Sat 26 Dec 2020 09:58 CET
First doses of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine arrive in Sweden
Police escort a truck carrying the Pfizer vaccine in Norway. Photo: Terje Pedersen/NTB

Sweden's first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine arrived early on Saturday, with the doses set to be driven during the day to each of the country's 21 regions ahead of the first vaccinations on Sunday.

Advertisement

According to a press release from the Public Health Agency of Sweden, the first delivery had gone "according to plan", with the vaccine parcel repacked for the regions. 
 
"It feels good that we have now reached this step and that we in Sweden can within a few hours begin offering protection against Covid-19," Anders Tegnell, Sweden's state epidemiologist, said in the statement. 
 
READ ALSO: 
 
This weekend, Sweden will only receive 9,750 doses, enough to vaccinate 4,900 people, with regions likely to receive a second delivery over the New Year. eventually, Sweden expects to receive 80,000 doses a week.
 

Advertisement

 
According to the agency, it is working "intensively" with the 21 regions which run Sweden's health system day-to-day and with the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SKR). 
 
According to the agency, the first doses would be offered to those "who have the greatest need of protection", for example, those who live in elderly care homes. 
 
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved Pfizers/Biontech's vaccine on Monday, opening the way for doses to be sent out to member states. 
 
Och redan i dag får Sverige 9 750 doser av vaccinet i en första leverans och i vissa regioner inleds vaccineringen redan under söndagen. Då vaccinet ges i två doser per person kommer denna inledande levervens att räcka till strax under 5 000 personer.
 
 

More

#vaccine

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

[email protected] 2021/01/08 22:46
I'm curious as to how the authorities are doing their calculations. <br /><br />Sweden's population is 10 million. <br /><br />From wikipedia, there's approx 7 million adults who would need vaccinations. Approx 2 million are above the age of 65. <br /><br />Vaccinating 2 million people at a rate of 80,000 a week would take 25 weeks. Which means that process would be completed in roughly 6 months (this doesn't take into consideration the second dose needed). <br /><br />This still leaves approx 5 million adults to be vaccinated. <br /><br />How do the authorities reach the conclusion that all adults in Sweden will be vaccinated by the first half of 2021?
[email protected] 2021/01/08 22:44
I'm curious as to how the authorities are doing their calculations. <br /><br />Sweden's population is 10 million. <br /><br />From wikipedia, there's approx 7 million adults who would need vaccinations. Approx 2 million are above the age of 65. <br /><br />Vaccinating 2 million people at a rate of 80,000 a week would take 25 weeks. Which means that process would be completed in roughly 6 months (this doesn't take into consideration the second dose needed). <br /><br />This still leaves approx 5 million adults to be vaccinated. <br /><br />How do the authorities reach the conclusion that all adults in Sweden will be vaccinated by the first half of 2021?
[email protected] 2020/12/26 10:37
Seems like you forgot to translate the last paragraph.

See Also