The government is in favor of giving a booster dose to the elderly. Many believe the health service should be next in line.
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– We are approaching the time where it has been 6 months since people in the health care system got other stings. After the elderly have received a third dose of vaccine, it is the health personnel who should be at the forefront of the queue, says leader of the Norwegian Nurses’ Association, Lill Sverresdatter Larsen.
European Medicines Cooperation (EMA) opened on Monday for those over 18 to receive a third dose, six months after full vaccination with Pfizer. The background for the recommendation is a study they have examined, where they see an increase in antibody levels by a third dose when given six months after the second dose, in data from the age group 18-55 years.
– Now they are in risk groups as well as the elderly who must receive a third dose first, and then there are healthcare professionals who should be first in line.
FHI does not currently recommend giving refreshment doses to anyone other than the elderly. But the government has commissioned NIPH to consider refresher vaccination in health professionals under the age of 65, says Bent Høie.
FHI says they will also consider offering a booster dose to healthcare professionals to reduce the risk of further infection to particularly vulnerable people. This is one of the reasons that Sverresdatter Larsen points out as an argument that health professionals should receive a third dose of vaccine.
– This is both to avoid infecting patients, and to avoid infection and quarantine internally in a sector which already has a large staffing problem.
She emphasizes that this does not mean that it will be necessary for the whole population to get a third dose, out from a global perspective.
– Healthcare professionals are basically healthy, and in terms of research we still do not have enough data that sufficiently shows the effect of a third vaccine dose for healthy people. However, in order to secure the business community with a view to closure and us as a society, it may be relevant for some working groups, including health personnel, to be further vaccinated.
– That said, we are pleased that the authorities are taking the time to look at the risk factors of the coronary vaccine. Based on the AztraZeneca vaccine, it is important to look at the risks associated with vaccinating healthy people against the benefit of a third booster dose.
Iren Mari Luther, head of the occupational section health and social at the Trade Union, also believes that health personnel should be prioritized for a third dose in the time ahead, after the elderly.
– We look at these studies that the elderly get the antibodies most reduced, but at the same time health professionals are in contact with so many people that I think it would be right to offer those who want it a third dose. From the results we see, it looks like this booster should be given after 6-7 months, she says.
“In addition to protecting himself, it will also be to protect others,” Luther adds. She certainly believes that FHI is right to prioritize the elderly first.
– This is the same assessment they did last time, where health professionals were vaccinated before the rest of the population.
– There are far more than two occupational groups within health. Last time, they had not included ambulance personnel in the assessment, and they and other health personnel never know what they encounter at work, she says.
A third dose is given today to those with weakened immune systems, who have had little effect. This is not called a booster dose, but an extra dose as part of the basic vaccination.
