Norway, in turn, on Tuesday March 9 authorized the administration of AstraZeneca's anti-Covid vaccine to people over 65, a decision taken in light of the new information and which should speed up the vaccination of the elderly.
Read also: AstraZeneca vaccine accessible to over 65s: a new missed opportunity to simplify the French strategy
Like several other European countries, the Nordic kingdom had restricted the injection of the vaccine from the Anglo-Swedish laboratory to under 65s, for lack of sufficient documentation on its effects on the elderly.
After France, Germany and Italy, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health has, however, recommended extending access to the vaccine to all people over 18, on the basis of British studies showing its effectiveness in the elderly.
The government announced on Tuesday that it would follow this advice.
Norway also wants to extend the interval between the injection of the two doses of the Pfizer / BioNtech and Moderna vaccines from three to six weeks, a measure still depending on the final green light from the Institute of Public Health.
The latter was also responsible for studying whether this period could be extended beyond six weeks, an increased spacing of injections making it possible to rapidly increase the number of first-time vaccinees.
"
We now expect that all adults will have been offered the vaccine by or during the summer,
" Head of Government Erna Solberg told Parliament.
She announced a strengthening of the powers of local medical authorities to curb a recent resurgence of the epidemic in the country: although the incidence rate there is one of the lowest in Europe, the number of new cases is recently started to rise again.
“
We still have a steep slope ahead of us, but if we can overcome it, the goal of returning to a more normal life is within our grasp,
” said Erna Solberg.
"
If we manage to keep the epidemic under control in March-April, we can start to reopen (the country) in May,
" she said.
Otherwise, the authorities could impose new measures applicable everywhere, which would include a ban on the serving of alcohol and the closure of many places frequented by the public, she warned.
More than 391,000 people had received at least one dose of the vaccine on Sunday in the country of 5.4 million people, and nearly 210,000 had received two.
As of Monday, a total of 632 people with Covid had died since the start of the epidemic.
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