Norway speeds up COVID-19 vaccination amid ample supply
OSLO (Reuters) -Norway will shorten the interval between COVID-19 vaccine doses to nine weeks from the current 12 weeks, thus speeding up the inoculation process, the health ministry said on Monday.
"We'll have ample supply of vaccines in the time ahead," Health Minister Bent Hoeie said in a statement.
Norway uses vaccines made by Moderna Inc as well as the Pfizer/BioNTech partnership, each requiring two injections.
"Reducing the dose interval is part of the Institute of Public Health's strategy to ensure that the population is fully vaccinated as quickly as possible," the ministry said.
As of Monday the country had fully or partly vaccinated 41.8% of all adults, according to the Institute of Public Health. In total, 27.6% of those aged 18 or older have received two doses, while an additional 14.2% got a single injection.
The government is due to decide by mid-June whether to relax more of the social restrictions it has imposed to limit the spread of the coronavirus, potentially allowing bars and restaurants to stay open past midnight.
The Norwegian central bank says vaccinations are key to its projections of an economic recovery and thus to its plans for a rate hike later this year.
(Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Gwladys Fouche and Steve Orlofsky)
