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Swedish region makes U-turn on new Covid-19 vaccination rules

The Local Sweden
The Local Sweden - [email protected]
Swedish region makes U-turn on new Covid-19 vaccination rules
Uppsala healthcare chief Mikael Köhler at another press conference. Photo: Nils Petter Nilsson/TT

The Uppsala region has backtracked just a day after introducing new rules for Covid-19 vaccinations.

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Regional health authorities in Uppsala, home to the university town of the same name, on Thursday said that people who had already had Covid-19 would be given only a single dose of the vaccine, six months after infection, rather than two doses as in the rest of Sweden.

But on Friday they made a U-turn.

“We have discussed the issue with the Public Health Agency and have been told that they do not back a separate order of priority for those who have had Covid-19 at the moment, as the benefits are not sufficiently great. So we will wait before we roll this out, and will keep vaccinating as before,” said Uppsala healthcare director Mikael Köhler in a statement on Friday.

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He said that Uppsala officials still believed that it would be preferable to limit the doses for people who have already had Covid-19, but that it was also good to keep the system as similar as possible in all regions. Uppsala would have been alone out of Sweden’s 21 regions in introducing special vaccination rules for people who have previously received a positive PCR test for coronavirus infection.

“We will keep having a close dialogue with the Public Health Agency and plan to introduce this in the future, as soon as it is possible,” said Köhler.

The number of positive Covid-19 cases is on the increase in Uppsala, as is the number of Covid-19 patients in hospital and intensive care, and health officials have warned people to be careful. Around 15 percent of all tests in Uppsala are coming back positive at the moment. Uppsala officials on Thursday urged everyone in the region to:

  • If you get symptoms, stay at home and get tested

  • Keep at least two metres’ distance from other people, both indoors and outdoors

  • Don’t meet any new contacts and don’t organise parties

  • Work from home if you can

  • If you have to use public transport, use a face mask

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