One in four Swedes does not intend to be vaccinated and almost a third are unsafe according to a Novus survey conducted for SVT.

A majority of those who say no are afraid of side effects.

Cases of the neurological disease narcolepsy or sleeping sickness that should have been triggered by the swine flu vaccine are one reason. 

Matti Sällberg, professor of biomedicine at Karolinska Institutet, says that the disease swine flu can cause narcolepsy according to several studies.

And the swine flu vaccine contains the same viral protein. 

- There is a theory that the viral protein activates a kind of autoimmunity that you get through vaccination.

But the link applies to narcolepsy and flu, as well as swine flu.

Not other viruses.  

No association between narcolepsy and covid-19

When it comes to covid-19, there is no connection at all to narcolepsy, he says. 

- You can forget narcolepsy in this case.

However, other very unusual side effects may occur, but which are unclear. 

- We do not know yet.

You do not know this until you have vaccinated enough people, says Matti Sällberg. 

In order to detect a side effect that affects 1 in 20,000, 100,000 will probably have to be vaccinated.

That is why you do not see this type of side effect until you have vaccinated enough people, says Matti Sällberg. 

- Now there are well over 100,000 who have been vaccinated and we have not seen any strange side effects yet.

We have to take into account that so far it looks good.

So the risk of serious side effects decreases with each passing day.

"Thousands of people will die"

Fredrik Elgh, professor of virology at Umeå University, points out that the side effect of not taking the vaccine is much greater than taking the vaccine.

- If we continue to let this disease sweep through the country then we can talk side effects.

Thousands of people will die and even more will receive long-term covid and must be rehabilitated for a very long time and may never get well, he says.

In 2009, six million people in Sweden were vaccinated against swine flu and 440 children and young people contracted the disease narcolepsy.

Since very many will be vaccinated this time as well, there is a risk of unusual side effects.

- If it is a very unusual side effect, then the benefit still exceeds the possible risks of the vaccine.

But for the person it affects, it is of course tragic, says Matti Sällberg.

Play the clip above and see Matti Sällberg explain why narcolepsy is so unlikely to get from the new corona vaccines and how safe they really are.