18th December: Oslo’s Vaccination Plan is ready
Press release:The City Government has presented a plan for vaccinating Oslo’s population against the Corona-virus.
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«The Corona pandemic has changed the world and challenged everything that we thought we could take for granted. Even though we will still have to live with strong restrictions, the vaccine marks the start of the end of the pandemic. We will do everything we can to vaccinate as many people as possible, as soon as possible, while at the same time continue to manage the city safely throughout the pandemic”, said Governing Mayor Raymond Johansen (Labour).
We expect 2.5 million doses to arrive in Norway during the first half-year of 2021, most of which will come during the first three months. This is enough to vaccinate 1.25 million people, the equivalent of 70 percent of all those most at risk and health service workers who have direct contact with patients. Oslo can expect to get the numbers of vaccines based on estimates of the numbers of people in risk groups, though the details of quantity and delivery time still have to be clarified.
«We will start by vaccinating all residents at nursing homes, and continue in a phased way until the youngest residents are vaccinated by the summer at the earliest. The City of Oslo will get in touch with each person when it is their turn for vaccination”, said the The Vice Mayor for Health, Ageing and Municipal Services, Robert Steen (Labour).
Stepwise vaccination programme
The City of Oslo is basing its vaccination programme on national guidelines and recommendations for vaccination, and will break the vaccination down into four steps:
- Under step 1, Oslo’s 4,100 nursing home residents will be vaccinated. The vaccination of this group is expected to start before the new year, depending on when the vaccine is approved and delivered to Norway.
- Under step 2, the elderly over 65 years will be vaccinated, a group of about 80,000 people. The City Council will start with the oldest and work downward by age, split into 5-year age-groups.
- Under step 3, people aged 18-64 who are at risk of becoming seriously ill or of dying will be offered the vaccine. During this phase, general practitioners will have a bigger role in giving vaccines.
- The rest of the population over 18 will be offered the vaccine in the last phase. This will most likely be at the start of Summer, at the earliest.
The vaccine is given in two doses with an interval of three weeks. The City of Oslo is preparing for the Pfizer/BioNTech-vaccine to be the first to arrive in Oslo.
Fixed vaccination stations
The City of Oslo will set up a vaccination station in each city district (bydel), to ensure good enough access for the local population. Each vaccination station will expand to a capacity for up to 4,200 vaccines per week, depending on the size and age-composition of each city district.
In the event that larger quantities of vaccines become available at the same time in Oslo, the City will consider providing up to four larger vaccination centres. The capacity will be adjusted on the basis of the amount of vaccine that is available.
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All status reports from Oslo city council on coronavirus outbreak