PandemicPreparedness

2021

3 August: The Swedish Government has announced (in Swedish) boosters will be made available to certain risk groups this autumn. Additionally, the government is likely to offer booster vaccinations to more of the population in 2022.

24 July: Public health officials announced (in Swedish) yesterday the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine will be discontinued. The majority of the country’s population above the age of 65 have been fully vaccinated, prompting the decision. Remaining doses will be utilised as second doses to those who received a first dose. For those over the age of 65, it will be used as a first dose, with the follow up dose to be either Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna.

30 March: Health authorities advise that two hundred people who had received a full course of vaccination have tested positive. "No vaccine provides 100% protection, and breakthrough infections occur for all types of vaccines. [...] the number of breakthrough infections in Sweden is in line with what is expected, says state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell. [...] The fact that so few people are infected after receiving their second vaccine dose indicates that the vaccines used against covid-19 in Sweden work well."

Three vaccines are in use - Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca. See the table of doses delivered and table of expected deliveries. Supplies of the Janssen vaccine are expected to commence in April, and CureVac in June. So far, over 1,100,000 people have had one dose of vaccine, and more than 480,000 have been fully vaccinated with two doses, almost 6% of the population. See map of vaccinations completed. Vaccinations are recorded in the National Vaccination Register. Phase 2 of the vaccination campaign is underway, starting with people who are over the age of 65, those with specific underlying health issues, and people who care for them.

27 March: The Public Health Agency has announced (in Swedish) that the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine can resume in people 65 years and older, but is still suspended for those under 65 years. This follows concerns of reports of blood clots which are under investigation as to whether they may be linked to the vaccine.

13 January: Approximately 80,000 people have been vaccinated, up to and including 10 January.

2020

28 December: The first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived (in Swedish) on Saturday 26 December, were given (in Swedish) on 27 December. In total, doses for nearly 5,000 people arrived over the weekend.

As many as 80,000 doses are expected to arrive by next week. Specific times and locations are being kept confidential due to security reasons. Europol had issued a similar warning earlier this month.

The Swedish Public Health Agency has recommended the following categories for priority vaccination:

• People who live in special housing for the elderly or have home care.
• Personnel in elderly care, health and medical care and other care personnel who work close to people as above.
• Close household contacts to people who have home care.

The full plan for vaccination may be found here (in Swedish).