Following the suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine on 11 March, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health states:
“Norway decided to discontinue the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in March, ” said Geir Bukholm, director of the Division of Infection Control and Environmental Health at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
“Based on this knowledge, we come up with a recommendation to remove the AstraZeneca vaccine from the Norwegian Coronavirus Immunization Program,” said Bukholm.
Bukholm points out that this was not an easy recommendation to make. It has a direct consequence for the time when risk groups can receive a coronavirus vaccine, with subsequent protection, while having an impact on when it will be possible to lift infection control measures.
Norway has dramatically reduced the risk of death from covid. And, as most older people have either been vaccinated or will soon be vaccinated, this means that the continued use of the vaccine would take place in the under-65 age group.