Sweden will sell vaccine doses to Norway

Norway and Iceland are outside the EU and are thus not part of the vaccine agreement that the Union's 27 member states have entered into.

However, when a corona vaccine is developed and is to be delivered to the EU's approximately 450 million inhabitants, approximately 3 percent of each member state's doses will go to EEA countries, including Norway and Iceland. It was decided on Tuesday, according to Sweden's vaccine coordinator Richard Bergström.

- All member countries have agreed to share their doses. We are working on the exact distribution table right now, says Bergström to NRK.

In practice, this means that Sweden buys extra doses which are then resold to Norway and Iceland. In total, there may be between 200,000 - 400,000 who benefit Norway each month, according to Bergström.

Norway's Minister of Health Bent Höie confirms to NRK that Sweden will secure the country's vaccine supply, but at the same time emphasizes that the work within the EU is not finished yet.

- Each agreement is negotiated separately, but we have the same guarantees as others, says Höie and continues:

- I feel very confident that Norway will be taken care of.

According to Richard Bergström, the vaccine doses can be delivered to Norway early next year. The cost for the country is estimated by the vaccine coordinator to be between 10-12 dollars per inhabitant.

Sweden has set aside two billion kronor for the purchase of vaccines.

- There are several vaccines we are talking about, so we are fully protected. We buy more vaccines than we need to be sure that something works. If we have set aside two billion kronor, it will be enough for several vaccines, says Richard Bergström.

The European Commission has agreed on a purchase of just over 400 million vaccine doses from the Swedish-British pharmaceutical company Astra Zeneca, provided that the vaccine is approved. For Sweden, it is about six million doses for a first purchase, which should be enough for between three and six million Swedes.