The health council now encourages everyone who is offered the booster dose to attend up to the hour.
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At Easter dropped several vaccine hours to go to the mountains. Oslo Health Councilor Robert Steen now sees the same thing happening again before Christmas.
– There is less interest in coming and taking the vaccine during Christmas and just before Christmas. We have to keep the pressure up through Christmas, he says.
According to Steen, several of those who do not want to attend the vaccination class at Christmas time say that they are worried about having side effects – something they think they do not have time for.
According to Steen, there are also few who choose to book an appointment during Christmas in space when they receive an SMS from the municipality about offers these days.
– I have a request: Attend the vaccination class on Christmas Eve, he says.
He also asks people to use the hours they have been given instead of showing up at vaccine centers days before the agreed time, as this in the worst case creates additional work for the health service.
More challenges
Steen states that everyone over the age of 65 in Oslo has now been offered a booster dose and 70 percent have been stabbed in the arm.
This weekend, the first between 45 and 65 years got their booster dose in the district Bjerke in Oslo. After the New Year, the health council hopes that the municipality can concentrate on vaccinating everyone over the age of 45 with the third dose.
But the Christmas vaccination is not the only challenge:
– We are in a situation where I experience that the uncertainty is very great, perhaps greater than throughout the pandemic. The main reason for this is the omicron variant, says Steen.
He points out that the variant came to Norway very early and that there are currently few experiences with it from other countries.
– The uncertainty is great. And when you have a lot of insecurity in a society, you can experience a lot of unrest. This in turn can lead to a lot of stress, he says and continues:
– It’s a bit like I read the situation, mostly in Oslo, but you also see it in other municipalities, he says.
He points out that Oslo is no longer the epicenter of the pandemic, but that the high infection pressure is more of a national phenomenon.
Pressured health care
– The vaccines are the way out of the pandemic. Therefore, we press to get the booster doses given as soon as possible. But then I see that the omicron infection in particular means that the queues at the test stations are starting to get long. And the pressure on infection tracking where there is a suspicion of omicron is great, says Steen.
He points out that the health service nationally and municipally must solve many tasks: in hospitals, in nursing homes and home care, but also TISK work and vaccination.
– Two years into a pandemic, we are in a situation where many are starting to get tired. It is a wear and tear in the health and care sector, he says.
Steen emphasizes that the municipal health service now has a high sickness absence rate of 15 to 20 percent – and it is still increasing.
– When the infection increases, more tasks are assigned to organizations with reduced staffing. These are the frameworks we have to work from. Then it is important to prioritize correctly and help each other so that we can all get through a challenging situation that can also accelerate due to omikron, he says and continues:
– What we as residents can contribute is to comply with the infection control rules, take the vaccine and show up when you get an appointment, use quick tests if you are worried about infection, use an appointment if you are going to test yourself at a test station and think a little extra about all the fantastic health workers which stands around the clock to keep us healthy and protect our city. They deserve to hear that we appreciate them, Steen concludes.
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