Several advocate postponing the interval between dose one and dose two of the available vaccines in Norway from 6 weeks to 12 weeks.
– Dose two is not always necessary, said Professor Ørjan Olsvik to Dagbladet on Thursday.
Assistant health director, Espen Nakstad, tells Dagbladet that he believes it is important that Norway considers this quickly.
– FHI assesses this continuously, and discusses with the Norwegian Medicines Agency and many others – also a little with us. I think it is very important that this is considered now, Nakstad told Dagbladet today.
– Dose two is not always necessary
Safe reopening
Nakstad says that he has the impression that expert group, which was reduced yesterday, also looks at the issue.
– I think they should look a little more into how to get well equipped to use the vaccines you now get in the future in a very good way, says Nakstad.
– This is in a way a completely separate issue that is very relevant now, because you want to get far with the vaccination, and you also want to reopen society eventually in a safe way, he adds.
– Can wait longer
On study from the American Institute of Public Health (CDC) shows that the protection of the corona vaccines Pfizer and Moderna is 80 percent after one dose, and 90 percent after two doses.
– Is it the case that if you have more than 80 percent effect of one dose of the vaccine and that effect lasts a long time, then you may be able to afford to wait a bit with the other dose. It is not critical then to have to take it right away. Maybe you can wait a little longer, says Nakstad.
– What significance will this have for Norway?
– This means that in the meantime you have time to vaccinate many more with the first dose, and get a pretty good protection towards the summer, Nakstad answers.
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– A big part
Also yesterday’s news about that even more Pfizer vaccines are coming to Norway now before the summer, could be of great importance, Nakstad believes.
– These vaccines will probably come in June and July, and it can change the picture quite a bit. This may mean that a fairly large part of the Norwegian population may have received the first dose during the summer, he says and adds:
– It will be a big step forward in relation to the more pessimistic estimates that we envisioned a few days ago.
Trying to get more vaccines
– Better to distribute
On Wednesday, economics professor Steinar Holden, who heads the expert group that has assessed the socio-economic consequences of the corona pandemic, stated that findings such as this should give reason to introduce greater spacing between dose one and dose two.
– Studies from the USA show that dose one provides 80 percent protection, and that dose two provides 90 percent protection. The extra protection you get from dose two is therefore small, and then it is better to distribute the first dose to more people, so that you can get a much better protection for everyone, Holden told Dagbladet.
Unproblematic to postpone
Ørjan Olsvik, who is a professor of medical microbiology at the University of Tromsø, also believes that it now applies that as many as possible receive the first dose of the vaccines available in Norway.
– Postponing dose two is not a problem, but it probably presupposes that there will be enough deliveries to be able to set a dose two at a later date, Olsvik says to Dagbladet.
– Is dose two necessary if you already achieve 80 percent protection with dose one?
– Dose two is not always necessary, but for most people it is good to get dose two, to get the highest degree of protection, the professor answers.
– I do not know if you can wait up to half a year with it, he adds.
Today, the distance between the first and second dose of these vaccines is six weeks in Norway. It was extended from three weeks in March.
On Friday, more than one million vaccinated Norwegians were registered. Figures from the National Institute of Public Health show that 1,025,429 people have been vaccinated with the first dose of the vaccine in Norway. 299,631 people have received a second dose.
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