The corona vaccine has arrived in Norway: “A very important day”

Camilla StoltenbergPhoto: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB

The first corona vaccines arrived in Norway on Saturday. A total of 9,750 doses of the vaccine, developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, will be distributed to seven eastern municipalities.

The delivery will arrive at Ullevål hospital on Saturday morning. The next delivery to Norway will be on December 28.

The Pfizer vaccine received the green light from the EU Medicines Agency EMA on Monday and is thus also approved for use in Norway. 

The first deliveries were sent out from the factory in Belgium on Christmas Eve.

“This is a very important day for Norway, and I am glad that we have now received the vaccine,” Camilla Stoltenberg told news bureau NTB on Saturday morning.

In total, just under 35,000 doses will arrive in Norway before the New Year. After that, there will be weekly deliveries of about 40,000 doses.

“It’s a big day for us. This means that we are one step closer to winning the battle against the virus,” general manager Sissel Andresen in Pfizer told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK).

Eastern municipalities

The eastern municipalities of Oslo, Ringsaker, Hamar, Stange, Sarpsborg, Fredrikstad, and Hvaler will receive vaccine doses from the very first delivery.

Hvaler mayor Mona Vauger (AP) told newspaper Fredriksstad Blad before Christmas that the vaccination will start at Dypedalsåsen nursing home on Sunday.

In Oslo, five nursing homes have been selected for coronary vaccination from December 28 to the end of December. The first doses will probably be administered on Monday.

Two doses

The vaccine must be taken in two doses at a 21-day interval to give the full effect. Studies from Pfizer show that the effect after the first dose is around 52%.

After you have taken the second dose, the effect increases to 95%.

“It takes between one to two weeks after the last dose is administered, before the vaccine reaches the efficiency rate of 95%,” Stuwitz Berg told TV 2 on Wednesday.

Storage

Before the New Year, more than 1,000 coolers, which will be used to transport vaccines, will be sent to the country’s municipalities.

The coolers are in addition to the refrigerators the municipalities already have for storing medicines and will help make it easier to transport and store vaccines.

Initially, a few coolers will be sent out to the municipalities that receive the first vaccines this Christmas.

The vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech must be stored at minus 70 degrees during long-term storage and transport.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today

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