Sweden has run out of space for storing Covid vaccines due to the lack of demand in the country.
QUICK FACTS:
- The country of Sweden is running out of refrigerated storage for housing the COVID-19 vaccine due to a lack of demand within the public.
- Because Sweden is on contract to continue receiving more doses, the European country is now storing some of their vaccines overseas in Germany in an agreement with Pfizer.
- “We have a number of vaccine deliveries coming to us, but lacking the storage capacity,” Minister of Social Affairs Jakob Forssmed said. “This way, we reduce the risk of having to throw away vaccines.”
- Many European countries have seen the demand for the shot fall drastically over the past few months, as the EU considers delaying deliveries beginning in July.
SWEDEN ON POSSIBLY HALTING ITS CONTRACT WITH PFIZER AFTER THE DEMAND FOR COVID VACCINES HAS DROPPED IN THE COUNTRY:
“The contract for 2022 is too big,” a source told the Financial Times. “Vaccination will not be as strong as it was in 2021. That’s why member states are asking to stretch deliveries.”
BACKGROUND:
- Last month, the Swedish Public Health Authority announced they would no longer be recommending the vaccine for children aged 12 to 17.
- “In this phase of the pandemic, we do not see that there is a continued need for vaccination in this group,” Soren Andersson, an official in the Swedish health agency said at the time.
- Andersson also noted that “we see that the need for care as a result of COVID-19 has been low among children and young people during the pandemic.”
- Unlike most of their neighboring countries, Sweden refused to implement strict COVID lockdowns and studies have revealed the nation may have experienced less harm than those who did implement those measures.
- After seeing a relatively high death toll when the virus first spread throughout the world, Sweden is now seeing fewer deaths per capita than the European average.
