Citizens Over 65 Will Not Receive The AstraZeneca Vaccine

The new AstraZeneca vaccine will only be given out to those under the age of 65, says chief epidemiologist Þórólfur Guðnason today.

Elderly Icelandic citizens will all receive other vaccines, such as Pfizer and Moderna.

Three months will pass between the first and second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine as this maximises its effectiveness.

Þórólfur Guðnason announced this at a civil defence information meeting today. He also stated that people will not be able to choose the vaccine they receive.

Þórólfur went on to say that nursing home staff and people with underlying diseases could also have the AstraZeneca vaccine made available to them.

The virus has not been eradicated yet.

In the civil defence meeting, Þórólfur said that over 60 cases of the British variant had been diagnosed both domestically and at the border. These infections were all related to arrival into the country.

“The virus has not been eradicated in the community and therefore we need to proceed cautiously,” said the epidemiologist.

There has yet to be any cases involving either the South African or Brazilian variant.

Loosening of restrictions could be on the way.

Þórólfur noted that he was beginning to write a report to the Minister discussing mild relaxations of disease control measures.

He did not however want discuss the reports contents, stating he is aiming to submit the proposal this weekend or potentially even next week.

Border concerns.

Despite border screening being rather successful, concerns have been raised about infection still being able to creep into the country.

Other issues such as people not giving the correct information upon arrival or people not isolating properly were also mentioned. Without these measures being taken seriously, there is a risk that stricter rules could be enforced again.

The meeting ended with Víðir encouraging people to go for sampling. He noted that there had been a decrease in the number of people who had samples in recent days.

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